Technicalities
by HelKat
Summary: Ninja's technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?
1. System Startup

Title: Technicalities

Rating: T

Character(s): Naruto Uzumaki

Summary: Ninja's technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?

Disclaimer: I own no one but my OC. You'll know her when you see her.

Warnings: I don't like this chapter.

xXx Chapter One: System Startup xXx

It was very disturbing, actually. She had never before seen so many trees. They were awe inspiring, but the trees were not the reason she was worried. It was that where there were trees, _a forest_!, she was used to seeing metal and electricity.

She was not looking at her city.

In fact, she was certain that trees like these didn't exist. They were huge!

"C-computer, calculate coordinates of position."

Silence.

She felt a stream of air in her throat, the beginnings of a scream not quite formed enough to be loud.

There were always computers around her. To be without was like being without air.

"Panicking will not help. Perhaps, with all the trees, there simply are not as many computers around like in Fran San." She didn't feel the slightest convinced. She suddenly realized that she didn't have her bag.

Another rush of air escaped her, louder and almost a raspy yell.

"Where's my Pinch! My Port! Oh no, my Flip Book!" She looked around for her gadgets. In the older days, her items were called a cell phone, portable game system and laptop. But those items were outdated and clunky. Sure, they became extremely refined by 2020, but they were still thick and heavy, not to mention very fragile. Then she caught sight of her wrist and relaxed. She still had something.

She pressed a button on her wrist band. It glowed as it turned on and she sighed in relief as she leaned against a wall.

"Religion, display current date and time." The small screen blacked out before a small hologram glowed above it.

She was in the same day as she expected, maybe with an hour or so having passed without her awake. A small red triangle glowed in the corner. She frowned at it.

"Religion, open corresponding notes to display." The screen blacked out before a soft voice spoke from the watch.

_**Duly noted: satellite update recommended.**_

"Religion, satellite update permission granted." The screen whitened out and a small orange bar was displayed. It slowly filled blue for completion. After five seconds, it was complete. "God that took a long time." She muttered as she looked around. She had no idea where she was. Her screen cleared and her wrist band displayed the time and date once more. About to close the display, her breath caught in her throat.

October 10, 5069 / 2342.

This date was 2078 years after of the previous display. Another red triangle glowed.

"Religion, open corresponding notes to display." She ordered distantly. She hoped the note said something along the lines of a virus or hack. _Please let it be a hack!_

_**Duly noted: coordinate reposition update recommended.**_

"Religion, coordinate reposition update permission granted." Another white screen. The orange bar took two seconds to turn blue. It was a better speed time. The date display returned and the time changed in according to the time zone.

October 10, 5069 / 1242

She was on the other side of the world. The side she grew up in. She knew there were no forests like this in the time zone she was apparently in. What happened in the 2000 years shift between what she knew and when she was now? She stood up, cautiously preparing herself to start exploring the city. It had only telephone poles, and she only knew that because of her history knowledge. She sighed and looked at her wrist band.

"Religion, close display." The screen turned black, hardly discernable from the rest of the band. It looked like a shiny bracelet now. She walked into the sunlight.

The area was a lot colder than she was used to. And it felt emptier. The hum and buzz and slight radiated heat of technology had always surrounded her, to be without was very disturbing. What had happened in the world for this to be the result? The world was at a utopia, almost...

Crying reached her ears. She followed it, not looking at the rest of the population who were giving her odd looks. She tried not to stare as obviously.

They were dressed funny.

Was that cloth? Was that metal? God, she felt like a stranger with her own bright colored and slightly more, 'foreign' dress.

Her skirt was just under her butt, a deep violet and her stockings were a toned green. Her shoes were flat, but black, thick and up to her calves. Her shirt was sleeveless and deep brown, an intricate bright orange design spiraling around a ribbon just under her chest. Her neckline was very low. Her gloves were pink, and arm warmers a brighter shade of pink. Her hat was white, decorated with ribbons, feathers and keys.

She pondered how to blend in as she followed the crying. None of the other adults seemed worried about the distressed child. She found a small blond boy, whining in a secluded corner near a park. She figured she still had her ear nubs in. Without them, she shouldn't have heard his quiet tones, and this was probably why no one else seemed to hear the boy. She took them out and pushed them into her belt before kneeling next to the boy.

"Hey." The boy flinched at her soft greeting before mumbling a quiet apology and getting up to leave. She recognized the Japanese and promptly continued her communication therein. "Are you alright? You seem distressed." The boy, looking like a four year old or malnourished six year old, blinked at her in confusion.

"I'm okay." He denied, offering a hesitant smile to make her believe him. She didn't fall for it.

"Uh-huh, and I'm a plasma cloud." His smile fell to confusion. "I just want to help, seeing as I have nothing else to do until I find my way home. Come on, let's go eat and you can talk all about it. However, I have one condition." She stated sternly. He flinched and looked at her with worry. "You pick the place to eat." She said. He blinked at her in shock before another hesitant, but more real, smile appeared on his face.

"Okay. I know the perfect place!" He said before pulling her away. She didn't follow him as quickly as he started, so he slowed down to stay with her.

"Shouldn't you tell your parents we're leaving the park to eat?" She asked as she looked around said park. She didn't see many adults, and none that she did see looked like the boy.

"I don't have any parents." He said, baffled at her concern.

"Guardians?"

"I live by myself." He stated. She didn't want to believe him, but he wasn't lying. He was too relaxed to be lying through his teeth. He didn't seem worried about being caught in a lie, either. He was still baffled at her concern.

"Oh." She said when he started looking suspicious at her motives. "So, how long have you been by yourself?"

"Since I was four, I think. Old Man Fire Shadow said the orphanage couldn't keep me, and I didn't want them to anyway." The boy shrugged. Amazed at the facts, and curious about the man who made the decision in the boy's life, the girl walked even slower to add talking time.

"Hm, that's interesting. How old are you now?"

"I'm six! Today!"

"Happy birthday." She smiled. He once again looked surprised at her, clearly not expecting it, but smiled very brightly in response.

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome." She laughed. "So, what's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Uzumaki Naruto! What's your name, lady?" She briefly reminded herself of how Japanese custom required her name to be placed in a certain order. Definitely not Nickname, honorary name, family name, personal name. After all, keeping a personal name quiet was the best way to protect one's identity.

"You can call me Tarisha, Ome Tarisha." She said before something caught her eyes and made her mentally smack herself.

Currency. Currency would no doubt be different in this time so her bills were useless. There was no way she was going to make this boy, Naruto, pay for his and her meal. She slowed to a stop.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, taking her hand. She ignored the disgusted looks the people around them were throwing at them. Naruto didn't seem to notice.

"I'm sorry, Naruto.I just remembered I don't have my money with me." He gave her another baffled look.

"I thought I was paying." He said. She raised an eyebrow and cocked her hip as she crossed her arms.

"Now why would you think that?"

"Because I always do." Naruto shrugged. "Ome-san, you're weird." Tarisha blinked at him blankly and he suddenly let go and looked away. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

The word 'abuse' ran through Tarisha's mind. She gently rubbed his shoulder, since a touch alone would no doubt make him flinch, and gently pushed him to keep walking.

"It's okay, I'm not mad at you. I'm just not used to children being so independent." She said as she urged him to take the lead again. He hesitantly complied to the unsaid order. He said nothing as he led the way, Tarisha's worries of money and location giving way to worries of this boy's circumstances. Was this normal in this time?

She saw families interacting the way she was used to all around her. Children holding the hands of their parents, mothers scolding rambunctious boys and fathers cooing their daughters. Naruto didn't look too affected by the displays of family interaction, and didn't seem to notice the immediate scorn as adults noticed him.

She worried. There was no way he could not notice any of this. He must be so hurt, he believed himself used to it. That was bad. Very bad. She gave him a gentle hug around his shoulders as they walked. He flinched but bowed his head slightly as he accepted it. He was confused, extremely so, at her behavior, but didn't question it. He had wanted attention from someone who cares for a long time.

"So, Naruto-kun, where are we going?" She asked lightly. He tried to shift away, no doubt thinking the nice moment passed, but she held on softly to let him know she was fine with holding him as they walked. He pressed closer, cautiously. She gave him a gentle squeeze of assurance.

"It's called Ichiraku's. Old Man Ichiraku makes the best ramen and he doesn't have high prices either." Naruto said with pride, still slightly subdued from his earlier uncertainty with Tarisha.

"Ramen?" Naruto whipped his head up to stare at Tarisha's face as her voice echoed in uncertainty.

"You don't know what ramen is?" He asked in a tone akin to horror.

"Of course, but…"

"Don't you like ramen?" He pleaded. The question wasn't the right one, though.

Of course she knew what ramen was. It had been the college student's staple choice with its variety of flavors and quick cooking time for hundreds of years. The key words were, of course, _had been_.

Long ago, sort of, prices fluxed as a virus took over the company and destroyed their financial records. With paper documents at a new time low, with trees declining and pollution space shrinking, all digital records were lost, meaning paper records didn't exist as back up. Their back up system failed, and they had no back up to their back up. Thus, the company shut down, their chain of followers not far behind them. It had taken another hundred years for the food to come back, but it wasn't quite right anymore, and the sale halted for the product indefinitely.

It wasn't a question of whether she knew what ramen was. The company was the best worst example of what a digital collapse could do. It was in history. She knew what ramen was.

It wasn't a question of whether she liked ramen either. She had never had it. She wouldn't know. Thus, it was more of a question of whether she had tried it before.

Naruto seemed to like it. A lot. Perhaps the food was created the way it was supposed to be like after all this time.

"Actually, I can't say I've ever tried it." Tarisha said as she urged him forward again. Naruto gaped at her. "So, how long till we get there?"

"It's right there." Naruto pointed to the end of the street.

"So it is. How homey. Do you eat there often?" Naruto nodded quickly.

"I'm their best customer. I've even helped them make their menu!"

"Ah. You must be a wonderful ramen connoisseur."

"A what?"

"An expert in ramen taste."

"Yeah! That's me! Hey Ayame-nee-chan! Hey old man!" Naruto rushed to the stall when he caught sight of the people inside. Tarisha continued in her own pace and reached Naruto's side just as the boy introduced her.

"It's a pleasure to meet friends of Naruto." The young girl said to her. Tarisha smiled.

"It's a pleasure to meet new friends as well." The girl beamed and Tarisha decided she liked her. After all, unlike the rest of the population, this girl wasn't staring at her odd dress compared to them. She was also fairly cute. Ayame cleared her throat and whipped out a notebook and pen.

"So, what'll it be?"

"I'll have the normal thing!" Naruto declared. Tarisha cleared her throat nervously and looked off to the side.

"I'm sorry. I don't have my money on me at the moment. I'm just here to keep Naruto company." The girl's smile faltered and Naruto was giving her his confused look again.

"I thought I was paying." Naruto repeated. His hair was ruffled in response.

"Naruto, I said that I'm not going to have you pay for me and you." Ayame looked surprised but said nothing. Tarisha tried not to let her imagination free to what sort of implications ran around this Naruto boy.

"But, you've gotta try ramen! It's the best!"

"I'll do so next time I have my money, but I won't have you spend your money on me."

"I don't mind!"

"But I do. I wouldn't feel right." Naruto was getting that insecure look again and so Tarisha looked at Ayame for help. The girl was blinking at her. No help there then.

"Ano, my money isn't bad." Naruto said sadly. Ayame cleared her throat uncomfortably and excused herself, leaving Tarisha to comfort Naruto alone.

"I never said that, Naruto." She said, bewildered. Naruto looked at his feet, utterly still. "Alright, how about this." When unsure, turn to logic. "What kind of job do you have, Naruto? If you live by yourself, surely you have an income." Realizing this, a part of her bristled. Naruto shouldn't have to work for money. He was barely six for a day yet! He shouldn't even live by himself! What type of society was she in now?

"Old man Fire Shadow gives me money."

"And who is this man? What gives him the power to do so?" Naruto looked uncertain by her line of questions.

"He's the Fire Shadow. He's the leader of the village." He said in a tone that told Tarisha that she should know this. She stopped pressing the matter in that direction.

"Okay, so why you? Does he do this to every children living by himself?"

"Uh..." Naruto obviously hadn't thought of this before.

"Naruto, this man is giving you money to live on. I couldn't take that. We just met, and I don't have a habit of having my friends pay for the things I want." Naruto looked reassured, but still perplexed at her behavior. A throat cleared behind the counter and the two turned to a smiling Ayame.

"Problem solved! Father says you can have your meal on the house! Both of you!" Before Tarisha could argue, Naruto yelled.

"You guys are awesome!" After saying that, Tarisha couldn't refuse. Her half-hearted glare at Ayame was met with a blush and a quickly diverted gaze.

After the meal, Naruto brought Tarisha to his house. Well, she asked to accompany him back home so she knew he stayed safe. Naruto gave her that confused look again before accepting awkwardly.

"I'm home." He said to the empty house. Tarisha stayed at the door as he toed his shoes off. The apartment was cleaner than she expected for a lone child to keep. Naruto reached the living room before realizing his new friend was still at the door. "You gonna come in?"

"Can I?"

Her own home had various intruder alarms and discouragers around her property, windows and doors. Alarm systems, security cameras and even an oddly placed pepper spray trap were everywhere. When she brought a complete stranger to the house, she had to set up a permission slip of sort for them to pass the front doors safely. It always took an extraordinarily long time of five to six minutes. She had no idea what this village had, being full of ninjas if Naruto was to be believed.

"Yeah, why not?" She idly noted that Naruto was very trusting and oddly cautious. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing. She walked in and paused momentarily to bow her head in respect. She had no idea of Naruto's religions, so she would be cautious and pay respects to the gods that guarded the boy's home if they were present.

"Thank you." She said as she finished.

"Huh?" Naruto poked his head from the door leading to the kitchen. Tarisha smiled at him and closed the door behind herself. She followed him to the kitchen and paused.

Naruto was rummaging through the cupboards, kneeling on the counter to reach the higher shelves. She had done that as a child, and never figured out her mother's hysteric reaction whenever the woman caught her on the counter. She was always completely balanced. So, it wasn't Naruto precarious balance that made her pause. Children were resilient, and Naruto certainly was more so than his peers. It was the object sitting in the middle of his table that made her heart skip a beat.

There was a computer on the table. More importantly, a Flip Book. A Flip Book was on his table, propped open like a restaurant's menu. The shiny back and dark screen glared from the sun's angle shining through the window, but that wasn't noticed. There was a Flip Book on Naruto's table! It started blinking after a few seconds, the small white light on the top flashing to say it was charging. Walking into the kitchen, Tarisha could see the folded spine was ridged. It was an earlier model, where it charged by sunlight. Not like hers, which had an unlimited source of power simply by connecting to the electricity in her own body. This model was created about three years before she was born and phased out by the time she turned thirteen. She didn't know they still existed, and could look so brand new after all this time.

Naruto hopped down from the counter and proudly handed her a juice pack. She took it numbingly. He followed her gaze to his table and gave her a look again.

"I found that in the Odd Hole. You like it?"

"Do you know what that is, Naruto?" She asked as she nodded quietly to his question and picked up the old piece of technology carefully.

"Not really. I don't think anyone's every picked one up before. Our Odd Hole is just outside the village, under the Hokage Mountain. It recently opened, I think, so we're starting to find things to use around the village. I like to explore there. Everything looks so weird. I like this because it was shiny."

"What's an Odd Hole? I don't think I had one near my village." She asked as she turned over the small 4x6 computer in her hand. It was fully charged, and hadn't been programmed to recognition. It still had its sticker.

"Really? By the looks of you, I'd say you _came_ from an Odd Hole!" She was grateful she didn't shudder at the declaration. "Odd Holes are places we get our cool stuff from, like my TV and radio. We don't know who made them, or how, but we've all learned how to use this stuff. Mostly. A lot of the things in the Odd Hole don't look normal."

Tarisha forced herself not to think of anything concerning this supposedly Black Hole of technology.

"I think I'm very familiar with things from the Odd Holes, Naruto. I know what this is. I had something like it, actually." She smiled at him and sat down. He hopped up to sit on the table. "This is a Flip Book, a kind of computer." He blinked at recognition at the word 'computer' but seemed dubious. She smiled and touched the corner. If she was right, this Flip Book had never even been turned on before. The blinking white light turned into a smaller constant white light. If it had a user, it would be green. She smiled at the boy watching her curiously.

"Computer, start."

_**Language: Japanese. Duly noted: satellite update recommended.**_

"Computer, satellite update permission granted." Naruto stared in awe as the small computer suddenly flashed a white screen with an orange bar. The bar filled with blue in the span of five seconds. The bar disappeared and a background of the Flip Book company logo filled the screen. A small red triangle blinked from the top right corner.

"Cool! How did you do that! How did _it_ do that!" Naruto asked loudly.

"It's a computer. They know everything through satellites up in space."

"Space? Like," Naruto pointed up. "_Space_, space?" Tarisha nodded.

"Ome-san, you're so cool!" She smiled at him. "What can it do?"

"Um, a lot really. You can learn from it, hack into things, guard more things, teach it to do art or music, treat it like a planner or news reel, even spy on people. If you get good enough at using it, you can even have it disguise you if you happen to need to sneak away."

"So it's a ninja's best friend?" Naruto was looking at the small black book reverently. Tarisha laughed.

"You could say that. How about this, I help you program and use this while you help me figure out where I am?" Naruto gave her that look again.

"..._Did_ you come from an Odd Hole?" She hesitated.

"I, I think I may have." Naruto gaped at her while she idly fiddled with the sides of Naruto's little Flip Book. "I'm really lost, Naruto." She admit. "I'm actually from the past, apparently, and it's very overwhelming and intimidating to be surrounded by _nature_ when I'm so used to electricity and technology. I need a little help, but I'd rather not go through the authorities. They tend to over react when there's always a rather simple solution to things. History says so."

"Sure I'll help you, Ome-san!" Naruto said excitedly.

She smiled and brought him into a hug.

"You're a great kid, Naruto. Now before we start, there's something you need to start doing." He looked at her determinedly. "Call me Tari-chan." He beamed and hugged her tight.

"You're my best friend, Tari-chan!"

"Okay okay, Naruto-kun. I want you to say," She looked at the bottom of the spine and pulled the sticker off to read it. "Computer Z37H90P, begin user recognition." She said as she showed the sticker for him to read. He didn't seem to know what it said, and she realized that he probably didn't know more languages than Japanese.

"Computer, Z-3-7-H-9-0-P, begin user… recognition!" Naruto may have stumbled, but he was excited.

_**Language recognition program initiated. State user name.**_

Tari quickly covered Naruto's mouth and whispered quietly as she covered the three mic holes on the book. They were extremely sensitive, after all.

"This is going to be the name of the Book, so you don't have to say Computer every time you want to use it. Sometimes there are public computers and their name is always going to be Computer. The name of your computer has to be something you don't say too often. Mine was Faith." Naruto blinked at her before nodding. She removed her hand from his mouth. "Say 'Computer Z37H90P, enter user name' then whatever name you choose." He was quiet for a moment before taking the small Flip Book and speaking carefully.

"Computer Z-3-7-H-9-0-P, enter user name Tolerance."

_**Username: Tolerance. State name of user.**_

"Tolerance, enter name of user Uzumaki Naruto." Tari whispered. Naruto smiled.

"Tolerance, enter name of user Uzumaki Naruto!"

_**Name of user: Uzumaki Naruto.**_

xXx TBC… xXx

HK: Kind of wanted this a tad longer, but I was tired of having Naruto's hand be held through everything. I love the adorable munchkin, but with the plans I'll have him do, he's going to need to grow up fast. Plus I didn't want to write too much about my OC. Yeah, Tarisha Ome is mine. She's not going to have much place in the story, just a sort of background mentor, so this will probably be the most spotlight she's going to have in a while.

By the way, I did say Fran San. San Fran is such a common phrase to say about San Francisco, I figure it's only a matter of time until switching the two small words will be normal.

Posted: 17Oct2010

Last Edit: 14Dec2010


	2. Initiate Integration Process

Title: Technicalities

Rating: T

Character(s): Naruto Uzumaki

Summary: Ninja's technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?

Disclaimer: I own no one but my OC. You'll know her when you see her.

Warnings: Er, maybe a bit too much like the first episode... woops. Didn't mean to do that.

xXx Chapter Two: Initiate Integration Process xXx

Naruto pouted to himself as he trudged out of the classroom. Another year, failed. He knew everything required, could improvise with any scenario, had the ability to switch at least five fighting styles on the fly, and probably had the most random survival facts in his head compared to the rest of the classes he's been in, yet he couldn't even produce three simply bushins! Gah! If only he'd done better on his paperwork instead of studying other things this year! He probably could have averaged a passing grade if his other testing subjects were perfect.

What would Tari-chan do?

He stopped that line of thought fairly quickly.

"Who knows? She's crazy." He huffed as he sat on his swing. His anger slowly gave way to sadness and helplessness. He could do this! He wanted to do this! Tari-chan said both of his parents were well respected shinobi of Konoha, and he wanted to be respected. Most of all, he had precious people in this village he wanted to protect! He needed to become a ninja if that were to happen! He blinked thin tears away when he heard footsteps approach.

"Ah, Naruto. Don't be so upset. You know that Iruka-sensei just wants you to be ready." Mizuki said gently.

"But I am ready! I can do jutsu! Bushin is such a weak jutsu though!" Naruto argued as calmly as he could. Keyword in could.

"Hm…" Mizuki-sensei looked at him contemplatively. Naruto could feel hope blossoming in his chest. "Well, don't tell anyone, but there is a makeup test." Naruto grinned.

He knew there was a chance for him!

After all, last year had a special case as well.

X

Naruto groaned as he let himself fall forward onto his couch. A cool small square pressed against his side as if to reprimand him, but the small computer was resilient enough to survive a fall from the top of the Hokage Mountain. Unscratched.

It was proven rather unpromptly one day.

Naruto thought about the makeup test Mizuki sensei told him about, and it didn't make sense to him. Normally when a potential genin failed one section of the shinobi requirements rather spectacularly, they could prove to their sensei that they had a specialization that made up for it. They would then be guaranteed a professional mentor for that field as the sensei of their genin team. Lee-kun had done that with his taijutsu. Naruto could probably do it with his stealth or tracing. Heck, even information gathering.

But stealing a forbidden scroll? A treasure of Konoha? Sure it was a play on his infiltration and information gathering, but that was going a little too far. Tests were supposed to be in controlled settings, not with as many variables as a real life situation.

After a moment, Naruto pulled out his Tolerance and opened it.

"Tolerance, contact Religion of Tari-chan."

_**Connecting… **_

There was quiet beeping echoing for about ten seconds before a ring chimed and a voice answered.

"_**Moshi moshi, Naruto-kun."**_ Naruto sighed in relief and rolled onto his back before answering.

"Hi, Tari-chan."

"_**I saw what happened. I'm sorry you didn't pass."**_

"Mizuki-sensei said I could take a makeup test, like with Lee-sempai."

"_**Hm…You don't sound too excited about it."**_

"Well, it doesn't make sense. Ne, Tari-chan, how do I track someone with my Flip Book?"

"_**Why?"**_

"I wanna see what Mizuki-sensei is doing right now."

"_**You do know that we might not be able to get complete footage?"**_ After almost a month of frustrating gaps of technology sitting throughout the village, Tarisha had connected to the satellites with her Religion and replayed the past natural disasters. She rewatched the attack of the Kyuubi no Kitsune at least twenty times before conceding to Naruto that chakra was a real source of energy. It explained what happened to most of the computers around the once security-camera-filled village.

"Something is better than nothing." Naruto waved the issue away.

"_**Not unless you get something useful from it."**_ Tari argued. Naruto rolled his eyes and moved the screens to better see his face. If he could see it well, she could.

"It's still something." Naruto said. Tari only smiled.

"_**Okay, Naruto-kun. Regardless, I won't be able to walk you through it over the vidcom. It'll do all sorts of weird things to our Flip Books. But, you could ask Tolerance to give you advice. Have it suggest methods of image tracking a subject. Just make sure you wait until we hang up. Okay?"**_ Naruto nodded happily. _**"And remember, when you see a warning triangle, acknowledge it."**_ Naruto laughed.

"I know, Tari-chan!"

"_**Send me an emess when you think you've found something. I'm going to be sweeping through the databases around the Hokage Tower."**_ Naruto snorted.

"Okay. Have fun, Tari-chan." The older woman grinned.

"_**Oh, you know I will."**_ Naruto laughed. When it came to village secrets, Tari-chan knew just how to work around all the passwords and loopholes in computer security to figure things out. He stood up determinedly as he looked at his trusty Flip Book.

"Okay. Tolerance, suggest methods of tracking individual subjects." Naruto said, feeling awkward and foolish. Tari had pounded into his head that his Flip Book was only as smart as him. He just had to remain smarter. As of three seconds ago, he definitely felt stupid with his computer, so he couldn't even imagine what his computer would do.

_**Suggestion: **_

Naruto gapped. He didn't think that was supposed to work!

_**Connect to real-time satellite footage. Suggestion: target individual through personal computer. Duly noted: must have verification passkey to initiate. Suggestion: wire feed of public cameras to target facial structure of identity. Suggestion: **_Naruto realized he had no idea how to stop his computer from continuing.

"Ah crap."

X

Naruto decided to steal the scroll anyway. He'd deal with his suspicious sensei when the time came. He crouched low near the entrance to the stairs. There were cameras and patrolling guards along the halls and stairs. He knew just how to get passed them.

"Tolerance, initiate sound frequency to hypnotize human beings for the next hour. Initiate controlled feed on current feedback for all surrounding recording devices within eighty yards to last for the next hour. My presence is to be hidden from knowledge. Initiate now."

_**Initiated hypnotism. Initiating hack. Countdown: one hour. Range: eighty yards.**_

Naruto walked. Then he stood in front of the Hidden Archives door. It was locked. With a padlock and an electronic lock.

'I think I feel insulted. Did they make it this easy for me because of my test, or is this really how secure our village secrets are?' Naruto rolled his eyes, not knowing which part he should feel more indignant about. He deftly picked the lock and pulled out the connection cable from his Tolerance's spine. He plugged it into the little mini-z type connector outlet, set just under the keypad. His Flip Book turned on, one screen glowing in an information screen and the other presenting a keyboard. Setting his Tolerance in his arm so the keyboard was flat and the screen tilted towards him, Naruto pressed the enter button to begin.

SECURITY UNIT 49G3KO95

VIRUS PROTECTION: NONEXISTANT

FIREWALL: NONEEXISTANT

PASSWORD: SET

-HIDE/REVEAL

-EDIT

-DELETE

ALARM FEATURE: ON

-VOLUME: 20/20

-COORESPONDING CONNECTION

Not bothering to read the rest of the page, Naruto touched the _reveal_ option to the password, scoffing at the weak security.

PASSWORD: 3490281

Naruto closed the feature of his Tolerance and typed in the password, idly wondering why security doesn't require retina scans. Those weren't as easy to copy as, say, fingerprints. 'Oh yeah, that'd be copying feature of our village's prestigious doujustu. All the more easier for me.' The door opened, and Naruto took his time exploring. After a while of browsing and sometimes image captures, Naruto cursed himself for forgetting something he should have done.

_**Countdown: thirty minutes**_

"Whose there!" A man shouted.

Naruto groaned to himself and lifted the huge scroll onto his back. He should have muted Tolerance when he could. Regardless, it was a good timer. He had to meet with his sensei in the next hour and a half. Plenty of time to study the scroll in the clearing the man spoke about. He walked past the guard, who was holding a kunai, and closed the door, letting the lock reset itself. He snapped the padlock closed and nimbly moved out of the way of the oncoming charge. The other shinobi was blind, but he could see the lock moving and hear the door locking.

"Show yourself! Intruder!" Alarms blared once before Tolerance shut them down without prompt, still obeying its previous instructions. Naruto made a mental note to check up on the repercussions of messing with the Hokage Tower security. He walked out the front door and quickly leapt to the rooftops, intent on getting to the clearing before Tolerance's hacking and hypnotism wore off. Granted, anyone would be able to see him when they were far enough away – the range was eighty yards after all – but they were all focusing on locking the Hokage Tower down at the moment. Hopefully.

'Maybe I should have done a range of three miles.' Naruto thought as he ran. No one followed him, all resources still being used inside the tower to find him. He made it to the clearing in a few short minutes. With a grin and a flourish, Naruto snagged one corner of the scroll and flicked it towards the clearing, deftly opening the scroll completely in one move. He looked at it for a moment, marveling the length, before realizing something about it.

"That's going to be a bitch to close again, huh?" Naruto asked himself.

_**Countdown expired. Hypnotism deactivated. Hacking deactivated.**_

With a dying whiz, Tolerance shut itself off.

"Spoilsport." Naruto muttered before taking out his trusty Flip Book and spinning it on its spine. "Alright. Tolerance, initiate page scan and copy."

_**Copy program initiated**_

A small triangle blinked on the screen. Confused, Naruto acknowledged it.

"Tolerance, open corresponding notes to program."

_**Duly noted: dimensions of page unknown. Enter length and width of page.**_

"Tolerance, dimensions of page to be copied is as follows. Width, four feet. Length, unknown." Naruto hoped the program would still run. He'd never tried to scan a scroll before, and certainly nothing as long as the Forbidden Scroll.

_**Copy program edited; width: four feet. Length: undetermined. Awaiting scan command.**_

Naruto double checked that the scroll was as straight as possible and held his Flip Book out so it's measuring red highlights were on the edges of his project.

"Tolerance, begin scan." A light was flickered inside the outlining red highlighting lines and Naruto carefully walked along the side of the Forbidden Scroll. He knew his smart trusty computer would automatically edit his scan to allow for a nice little picture, but he'd rather get it right himself. After a walk that was a lot longer than he thought, Naruto was done. "Tolerance, end scan." The holographic light died out and Naruto could feel his Flip Book whizzing inside his hands. He suddenly hoped it wasn't going to die. He'd been using it a lot today, and it ran out of energy without sunlight. With a look of resignation, Naruto set aside his Flip Book from his mind for a moment and started the task of rolling the long scroll up again. Whoever wrote it must have been a masochist or a genius. The size of the scroll alone was a fairly good deterrent to have people not want to look at it.

"Alright! Let's see what we got." Naruto set the scroll to his side and relaxed on the ground with his Flip Book in his hands. He quickly opened the necessary folders to find his latest download and swiftly renamed it as _Forbidden Scroll – Konohagakure no Sato_. After all, who know if he'd get the chance to sneak a peek at other scrolls from other hidden villages? He opened the file with a double tap of his finger and studied the first technique.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu. Shadow clones, huh? I suck at clones." Naruto groaned to himself. "Er, solid projections, infiltration, yadda yadda… Whoa! I can know what it learned when it gets dispelled? Cool." Despite his initial discouragement, Naruto read the instructions of how to perform the jutsu. After carefully reading and rereading the hand signs and precautions, Naruto set his Flip Book down and stood up to give it a try.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Naruto called as he finished his last sign and pushed out some chakra. A double looked at him.

"Yatta!" The two cried out.

"Cool! You get the scroll and study the even shit. I'll use Tolerance and get on the odd jutsus!"

"_Roger Boss_!" The Naruto clone said in French. Naruto laughed as the two set to studying. It was about ten minutes later that Naruto realized his sensei might be coming soon. He didn't want anyone to know about Tolerance, so he dispelled his clone, stared at the scroll for what he learned was in it, put Tolerance away and decided to continue practicing Kage Bushin no Jutsu. Mizuke was a lying man, Naruto knew this, but there was always a chance that this was really a test. The man said to learn one jutsu. So Naruto learned seven, he'd only tried one and so that was the one he was going to master and show his sensei.

"Naruto!" A familiar and unexpected voice called out just as he got the hang of realizing how much chakra created how many clones.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called back happily. The man was easily his favorite sensei, thus he gave no thought to jumping up to hug the older man. "Looks like I found you!"

"You dummy! I found you!" Iruka said in annoyance as he smacked the blond in the back of the head.

"What's the difference?" Naruto grinned as he rubbed his head. The other man didn't even hurt him. Tari-chan never got too physical with him unless he was feeling upset or depressed. She had an abundance of hugs then. Sometimes though, Naruto wished he had some other forms of interaction with people. He saw people shake hands, punch shoulders, and tap backs and stuff, but Iruka was the only one to do that with him. He liked it.

"You brat." Iruke smiled wanly as he ruffled Naruto's hair. The blond beamed. "Naruto, why did you steal that scroll?" He asked in a more serious tone. Naruto frowned.

"Mizuki-sensei said it was a makeup test. Didn't he tell you? He told me about it and this clearing too. This makeup test is so easy!"

"Makeup test? Naruto, there are no makeup tests, only alternative tests."

"Then, why did Mizuki-sensei…" Naruto glanced to the side of the clearing. It was faint, and he felt it more than heard it, but someone just stepped into the line of an alarm beam. The pressure in his ears told him some form of security technology was switched on by motion sensing, and chances are that person was Mizuki-sensei. The reason the audio was silent was most likely damage to the speakers, but not the unit.

"Naruto?" Naruto didn't answer Iruka as he turned to look curiously at where the mute alarm was blaring. Mizuki soon appeared on a branch.

"Naruto, quick, hand over the scroll!" Mizuki said urgently.

"Mizuki! You traitor!"

"I'm the traitor! You're the traitor! Naruto! Iruka is an enemy ninja! You cannot let the village's secrets get to him!"

"Mizuki-sensei, you said I only needed to learn a technique from this, not play theft and retreat." Naruto said, unphased by the two tense ninjas around him. Mizuki chuckled darkly.

"Yes, you're right. But," He took one of the giant shuriken off his back and aimed. "I was deadly serious about the scroll, you demon brat."

"No!" Naruto, realizing that something was very wrong with the situation, pulled at Iruka-sensei as the man tried to push him down. The giant shuriken landed with a dull thunk as the two hit the ground.

"Ow." Naruto said lowly. Iruka quickly leaned up. He had fallen under the boy when they were moving away.

"Are you alright, Naruto?"

"My Tolerance was a bit, low..." Naruto started before stopping. Iruka-sensei didn't know about Tolerance. The little Flip Book was currently about to slide down his pant leg, having taken the brunt of Naruto's weight when he tried not to land completely on his sensei. He was sure, if his healing rate wasn't abnormally fast, that he'd have a bruise on his outer knee.

"So I missed. I still have another perfectly good shot!" Mizuki yelled as he grinned. "Now die, demon!"

"Demon this! Demon that!" Naruto stood up angrily, feeling a tick on his eye as Tolerance slid down to the ground next to the Forbidden scroll. "What the heck, Mizuki-sensei! What's going on!"

"Oh ho ho! You mean you don't _know_!" Mizuki sneered as he lowered his weapon. Naruto crossed his arms as he looked up to the trees defiantly. "You mean you don't know why most of the village hates you? Why no one ever wanted you? Why even me and Iruka have hated you since we saw you?"

"Mizuki, don't say another word!" Iruka demanded as he pulled out a shuriken.

"See? Even Iruka knows. Oh yeah, that's right." Naruto slowly stepped away to put both men in his sight. He was really not liking where this was going. "It was a law, specifically made so you never knew."

"Just me? A law about me?" Naruto asked, feeling a little hurt. What did he ever do to cause his own village to hate him? He'd tried to never let it bother him that everyone obviously didn't like him. He'd be lying to himself if he said he wasn't affected at all, though.

"Do you remember the date of the Kyuubi attack, you little monster? Isn't it the same day as your birthday? Did you really think a mortal, even as strong as the Yondaime, could possibly defeat a demon of destruction and power? No, he sealed it! He sealed it straight into you! You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!" Mizuki threw his giant shuriken.

Naruto didn't see it coming. At all.

_You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!_

Him? Really? He was a demon? But, his DNA said he was human... Except, it explained his struggled just trying to live in the village. His well known freakishly fast healing speed. All the stares, whispers…threats. Insults... Oh Kami, he really was a demon!

_You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!_

"Naruto!" With a flinch, Naruto suddenly started paying attention to the world outside of his thoughts and cringed as Iruka pushed him to the ground. He could see a tremor of pain wash throughout his favorite – lying? – sensei. The man looked at him with sorrowful brown eyes. "I'm sorry, Naruto." Naruto could feel blood dripping onto his hand, rolling off of Iruka's back. He froze.

"What did you do that for, Iruka? That would have been a clean kill!" Mizuki complained childishly as he jumped down from the tree. He walked leisurely towards the two. "Oh well. I was planning on killing you anyway. Witnesses and all. You understand."

Naruto panicked as the silver haired man stepped closer. Confused and emotionally hurt, his gaze flicked over to Tolerance and the Forbidden Scroll. He slipped out from under Iruka and snagged the two, running away until he reached the edge of the clearing.

"Stop right where you are, Mizuki-teme." Naruto demanded as he held the scroll out and placed his hand under it, threateningly poised to snap. His Flip Book rested in a back pocket, out of sight from both men at the moment. "One more step, one more move, and I burn this precious scroll."

"Hahahahah! With what? You don't even have the balls to try." Glaring, Naruto moved his hand away and snapped. A small yellow fireball, as big as a beach ball, exploded in his hand. He had learned the trick from Tari-chan, who liked to light candles every once in a while. They were pretty big candles. She said they used to be used at cathedrals, whatever those were. He poised his hand under the scroll again. The two men blanched, having felt the heat from the first burst of flames.

"Naruto no!"

"Don't you dare you little bastard!"

"Then tell me what I want to know! Who made that law! Who was it that ordered everyone to hate me silently!"Mizuki relaxed, thinking he was off the hook.

"Give me the scroll, Uzumaki. It was the Hokage. Your precious Sandaime Hokage."

"_Tolerance, initiate hypnotism around the Forbidden scroll. Create image to burst in flames, burning to ash quickly and remain invisible for one hour._" Naruto intoned in German. He snapped. The clearing was silent as Naruto tossed the burning scroll towards the side of him, letting the image burn the scroll through near the edge of the tree line.

"You little shit!" Mizuki yelled. Naruto quickly hid, stealthily running away until he could pick a vantage point to ambush the man. "I'll deal with you later, loser." The silver haired man glared at Iruka before following chase.

"No! Arg-!" Iruka could only flinch as his wounds prevented him from moving quickly. "Naruto..." Determined to help his favorite student, Iruka forced himself to stand up. He would start training differently after this. He used to be pretty good at ignoring his injuries, but years as a safe teacher had made him complacent. He would start straining himself more during his training. If he survived the night. He really didn't want to kill his friend, Mizuki, but if he had to chose between him and Naruto...

It went without saying, that he'd do anything for Naruto.

With a determined breath, he stood up and started to run after the two.

"Iruka!" Mizuki called in surprise as a shower of kunai rained on him. Only two hit, but they were superficial. He had dodged for the most part. "What are you doing you idiot! That monster killed your parents! It's his fault you grew up all alone!"

Perched in the treetops, using Tolerance to help him hide, Naruto listened closely.

"That doesn't matter to me. I know Naruto. I thought I knew you. Mizuki, why did you want the scroll?"

"Ha! Why else? Why else would Naruto want it? We're both alike in that, you know." Naruto cringed at the idea. "Beasts for power! I was going to use the scroll to become unbeatable! Then the demon went and burned it! I'm getting my revenge on him, just as he's about to get revenge on the village right now. That's what beasts are, you know. Mindless monsters!"

"Yes, that is what a demon is." Naruto prepared to leave. He had heard enough. He was going to run away. Or stay with Tari-chan. Something. He wasn't going to stay here and take this crap anymore. "But that isn't what Naruto is." Naruto paused. He really wanted to believe in his favorite sensei. "Naruto is a human boy, full of energy and life. He works hard and despite his struggles he loves life. He loves this village and its people, regardless of how they treat him. He may mess up from time to time, and everyone jumps on him because of it, but that only makes him stronger when he succeeds. That isn't a demon. That is Uzumaki Naruto, of Konohagakure."

Naruto smiled gently, touched.

"You honestly believe that? Really? Don't make me sick. I was going to deal with you later, but I've changed my mind." Wiping the disgusted look off of his face, Mizuki took out a single kunai. "Your last night is here. Any final words?" Iruka said nothing, resigned. Just running here took the last of his energy. He was losing too much blood. He had already lost too much as it was. Mizuki started to run.

Naruto jumped down quickly, taking out his whistle and blowing it sharply to distract the two and stall for a moment of time. It worked. Naruto kicked the traitor in the cheek as he came down and was able to knock him away an impressive amount of feet. Naruto flipped backwards to steady his momentum and took a protective stance in front of Iruka.

"If you ever lay a hand on my sensei, I'll kill you!" He threatened as he took out a small fan. It was made of metal, more crude than anything, but Naruto knew how to use it. He was planning on getting a real tessen when he became a shinobi, but this was no time to ignore any skills due to secrecy. If he had to, he could resort to taijutsu as well.

He was rather proud of his taijutsu style, learned from the past through footage and what Tari-chan was vaguely familiar with.

"Naruto!" Iruka called in surprise. He collapsed to the ground, the loss of blood and surprise of battle taking too much from him.

"Such big words. I could completely destroy you with a single move!" Mizuki snarled. Naruto formed a cross with his fingers defiantly.

"Try it, bastard! I'll return it to you by a thousand. Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"

"What!" Mizuki tensed, completely unprepared for such an overwhelming force of opposition.

"This is- They're, all real. Solid clones..." Iruka noted in quiet awe.

"_Let's have him pay!_" Naruto called out in English. With many war cries, Naruto and his clones all jumped towards their single target and proceeded to maul him. As they realized the man couldn't even fight back very well, they put away their tessen, unless they were going to use it to scare the Mizuki more.

Dawn broke out a few hours later.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei. I guess I got a bit carried away." Iruka gave one last sad glance to his unconscious friend and waved the boy closer.

"As long as you're alright, Naruto. Come here. I've got something for you."

"Are you okay? Should we get you to the hospital?" Naruto asked as he obeyed.

"I'll be fine." His body had started ignoring the pain a while ago. "It will be a great loss to the village, now that our Forbidden Scroll has been destroyed. But hopefully, with you in our ranks, we can start rebuilding our forces to be even stronger. After all, that scroll is only for the strongest of the strong; our Anbu."

"Really? That's pretty cool. It's a good thing the scroll isn't lost. Hey, hey! What are you doing?" Iruka had slipped Naruto's goggles off before looking at the boy strangely.

"Naruto, didn't you destroy the scroll?"

"Of course not! I wouldn't do something like that, ever! I just made you all think I did! It's still sitting in the first clearing. Can I have my goggles back?"

"You crazy little genius." Iruka knew the boy was gifted. "Close your eyes, Naruto. I have something better than goggles for you." Confused, but excited about surprises, Naruto obeyed and felt something cover his forehead. It didn't feel too different than his goggles... "Congratulations, Naruto." Naruto opened his eyes to see Iruka still holding his goggles. "You graduated." Naruto's eyes flicked to Iruka's forehead. There was nothing there, so that meant-

"You're so awesome, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said as he carefully hugged the brunet. He was mindful of his injuries, but couldn't help but tighten his hold just a little when Iruka hugged him back.

X

"_Tolerance, mute response and deactivate hypnotism._" Naruto intoned quietly in German as he waved his hand in the direction of the scroll. It reappeared as if the wind was erasing its invisibility.

"Naruto, what sort of jutsu is that? I didn't feel you use any chakra." Naruto walked towards the scroll to get it since Iruka was having enough trouble standing as it was.

"It wasn't a jutsu, Iruka-sensei. Ano, I'm not really comfortable talking about it, either. Maybe one day, I promise, but not today. Please." Iruka smiled as Naruto picked up the scroll in his arms and looked at him expectantly. He looked like such a young child, dwarfed by the scroll as he was.

"Okay. I won't pester you. We'll give the scroll back to the Hokage and then check me into the hospital."

"Hai."

"Hm, and maybe we could go get some ramen later today, seeing as how it is morning."

"Hai!"

xXx TBC… xXx

HK: Rawr! Another chapter done! I didn't mean for it to look so much like the episode, but it had to be done. And, after three or so weeks underway and thus unable to update, I wanted to get a chapter out to you guys. Unfortunately, my computer was retarded so I had to give it to Geek Squad to try to fix. I just got it back. You know how it is. Was it too much Tolerance time? Are you all okay reading Naruto's tech savvy instructions, or should I tone it down? Let me know what you think!

Posted: 14Dec2010


	3. Delete Former Precognitions

Title: Technicalities

Rating: T

Character(s): Naruto Uzumaki

Summary: The technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?

Disclaimer: I own no one but my OC. You'll know her when you see her.

Warnings: A bit of slash mentioning. Don't like? Go ahead and rant. I gave you full warning and it isn't even bad or anything. And maybe spoilers. I have no idea how far the anime and manga are. I stopped a while ago. It does have mentions of the Uchiha massacre if that means anything to you.

xXx Chapter Three: Delete Former Precognitions xXx

Tarisha hummed to herself as she picked up her home. It was very early, but she was wide awake. Why not clean a little? Especially after a small party thrown for Naruto's graduation to Genin candidate, seeing as she hadn't quite gotten around to finish before going to bed last night. She decided to throw it after coming up to Naruto and Iruka eating at Ichiraku's Ramen stand a day or so after Naruto's 'alternate test'. She invited the ramen owners, Iruka, and Konohamaru, a friend Naruto made shortly after graduating. It took a little convincing to have the group swear to secrecy on her home, but she knew they wouldn't tell.

She made sure of it. Ah, nanobiobots. They were her favorite.

She glanced to the clock, sunlight being an issue as her home was under the sewers, and cursed. Naruto should have woken up thirty minutes ago.

"Naruto! Wake up! You're late! You're going to miss your team placements!" After a second, Naruto could be heard crashing to the floor as he scrambled to wake up and get ready, not in that order. "Now, that wouldn't have worked if he had a clock in his room." She said to herself. Pressing a few buttons on the wall, she linked up to the satellites and determined the weather for the day.

"Tari-chan! Tari-chan! Where's Iruka-sensei's hitaiate! I can't find it!"

"Ask the house, Naruto." Naruto poked his head into the room, his hair looking more messy than usual.

"Er, how?" Tari gave him a small smile. She always did when she taught him something.

"Just like computers, Naruto. House Ome Tarisha, locate the hitaiate of Uzumaki Naruto." The ceiling glowed with blinking blocks before an arrow leading out the door stabilized. Naruto ran after it.

"Found it!"

"House Ome Tarisha, cancel order." The blocks faded out of sight. Naruto ran back in.

"Thank you for the party, Tari-chan!"

"You're very welcome, Naruto-kun. Come on, let's go eat breakfast."

"I'm late!"

"You have another hour." Naruto looked at the clock on the wall and blinked.

"Oh."

"Yes, 'Oh.' I do believe you made a new record in getting ready. Come on." It was a good thing it took a lot for Naruto to feel aggravated at the things Tarisha did to him.

"Thank you!"

X

Naruto was the first in the classroom. It wasn't a proud feeling.

"Er, am I in the wrong place?" Naruto wondered as looked out the hall. Iruka-sensei had a final check-up on his injuries at the hospital this morning, so he wasn't as early as he normally was. Fidgeting in his new clothes, Naruto took a seat near the front, closest to the window.

Gone was his favorite outfit. Tari-chan said that a ninja was someone who could blend in, and with being blond, wearing bright orange was asking to be noticed and remembered. Now his hair was covered in a dark grey headband. Only small tuffs of blond hair stuck out in the back. His hitaiate was tied loosely around his neck. His shoes were a brand from Tari-chan's time. Light, thin, but very durable and flexible. The dark blue sandals looked more civilian than the standard regulation sandals, but his allowed his feet to be unusually quiet – and they weren't going to give him blisters or stinky feet, guaranteed! His shirt was dark green, a small red swirl on his right shoulder. His light tan pants were tight, but he had loose pockets on the side. His belt was black, more for storage than to help hold his pants up. It had small pocket compartments in it, and he had his tessen clipped along the back, hidden by Tolerance.

Tolerance itself had a new upgrade as well. Last night, before the party, Tari-chan had been digging through the Odd Hole. That was nothing new, but what was new was that she found a Flip Book such as her old one. It was one that ran on the human body's energy. With her help, Naruto managed to transfer all of the data he had into this new Flip Book. It was better, they both agreed, that his source of information wasn't dependant on sunlight. He even got a white and orange wrist band like her Religion. He named it Revenge, though Tari-chan hadn't told him everything the small computer watches did. He only knew how to use Flip Books thus far, as Tari-chan didn't use her own watch often after she got herself a Flip Book.

Taking out red tinted sunglasses, Naruto put them on and leaned on the desk. He felt tired already, after an exciting morning. He closed his eyes...

Naruto woke up to the buzz of a full classroom. It was then he remembered that he didn't have to come to class so early, since it wasn't a class anymore. He only had to arrive by 1130, not 0700. Oh well.

"-really."

"I don't recognize him either."

"He's just been sleeping since you get here, right?"

"Maybe he's confused."

"Well, he does have a headband."

"Where?"

"On his neck. You can see the knot."

"Oh, yeah. Should we wake him?"

"I dunno. He looks ready to attack, even if he is asleep."

"Creepy." Naruto mentally rolled his eyes.

He wondered if it was possible to command his wrist band mentally and see everything in his head. It was connected to him for energy, why not information? He'd have to ask Tari-chan. If it could, then he'd definitely be looking at the classroom without even opening his eyes. That would be so cool!

"I got here first!" Naruto sighed as he heard the familiar voices of Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. They were so annoying. As they bickered with each other, Naruto tried to listen for more of his classmates. He could hear Kiba, nothing new, so he must be talking with Chouji. If Chouji was here, no doubt Shikamaru was as well. Naruto wondered if they were going to be a team like their parents. Most of the other kids he knew fairly well were all quiet, but they were smart so they could be here as well.

"Hey, new guy! You better wake up! Iruka-sensei doesn't let anyone sleep in his classroom." A boy said next to his ear.

"If I didn't know you were my classmate, I would have sliced your throat." Naruto said promptly, startling everyone who was watching. He didn't flinch, but he was obviously awake. The boy who warned him stepped away unsurely.

"Er, sorry."

"Yeah. Don't do that again please." Naruto didn't really want to apologize, since that was a fairly morbid warning. "I appreciate the warning." The boy backed away.

The door opened one more time.

"Okay, class, settle down. Take your seats." Iruka cleared his throat. "As of today, you are all ninjas. To get here you have faced difficult hardships and trials. But that is nothing. What comes next is far more difficult. Now you are only genin, first level ninjas. All the genin will be placed in a three man squad. Each squad will be led by a single jounin, an elite ninja. We want each squad to have a balanced strength of abilities, so that's how we set them up. I will now announce the squads."

Naruto listened carefully, trying to determine what types of squads are being formed. Tari-chan said some squads are specialized for certain missions, such as tracking, infiltration, front line hard hitters and likewise. He knew some of his classmates from last year were specialized in stamina and variety, a generalization, but each had their own side specialization, such as weaponry, martial arts, and spying. He wondered what his class was set up for.

After a few minutes, Naruto heard his name.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The class looked around itself for Naruto. He didn't bother saying anything and only smiled to himself. Even Iruka looked worried until he spied Naruto's smile. He gave a small smile back before continuing. "Team Seven, your Jounin instructor will be Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch.

Not that guy! As Naruto groaned and moaned in his head, Iruka continued.

"You will all meet your squads after lunch. Congratulations again. Dismissed." Iruka said just as the bell rang. "Kyuumaru Nojin, please follow me." With a smirk at his favorite sensei's guts, who stared right at him as he spoke, Naruto stood up and followed his sensei to the side room of the classroom.

He was placed in a friendly headlock as soon as he strode in.

"Iruka-sensei!" He laughed.

"Naruto, where did you get that outfit? I was almost worried you weren't here. After all we went through to promote you!" Iruka gave him a noogie, rubbing the bandana off. He held it in his hand as he appraised the blond. "It's a very good outfit. Though, the shoes..."

"Tari-chan said they were better than ninja sandals. They're more quiet, no matter what." To prove his point, Naruto stomped his feet. Not even smacking was heard, only faint rustling, as it the wind or leaves. It was most likely his pants rather than his shoes anyway. Iruka was impressed. "She said we were lucky we found these in my size."

"Where did you get them?"

"At the Odd Hole."

"The Odd Hole? I didn't know Odd Holes did clothes too."

"Well, Tari-chan knows what to look for. Ne, Ne, Iruka-sensei, why did I get Hatake Kakashi as my jounin instructor?"

"He chose you. That's how it goes. The teams are created, and the jounin take their pick. I assume he sees the potential to pass along a lot of ninjutsu." Naruto frowned openly. "What's wrong?"

"I wanted to do infiltration and espionage." Naruto had his sights on Anbu. Or even Oinin. Iruka raised a brow.

"Really? I can't honestly see it, Naruto." Naruto grinned.

"I wish you were my sensei my entire schooling. See if you can find Mira-sensei. She can tell you all about last year." Naruto smiled before snagging his headband back and tying it more securely over his hair. He stepped out and grabbed his lunch. Not feeling like going outside, he ate in his seat. Tolerance was propped in front of him as he studied the information he had on his sensei.

Then he got sidetracked about the fact that he had the Kyuubi no Kitsune in his stomach and started looking at seals and what history says about jinchuuriki.

Tari-chan warned him about this; branching off from one topic to others with his Flip Book. Oh well.

X

_Naruto stood nervously at the door of the living room. Tari was typing on two keyboards as she continued to program the house AI. She had found the place, a veritable mansion, under the sewers, much farther underground than the home she had first found. Naruto knew about it, naturally, and used it as his sanctuary or when he was bored and wanted to spend time with Tari. Now, though, he wasn't sure if he wanted to talk. Except he was curious, and very very scared because of it._

"_What is it, Naruto-kun?" Naruto licked his dried lips and walked closer. His academy year started yesterday, and he had been gone most of the afternoon when it let out. _

"_I heard something during lunch. And, I wanted to ask you about it." He eventually said. Tari glanced at him as she typed before spinning her chair to face him. She held out her arms. He stayed where he was. She lowered them as she studied the boy._

"_What did you hear?"_

"_Tari-chan, how..." He gulped and looked at his feet. "How do I know if I'm gay?" Tari raised an eyebrow._

"_What did you hear, Naruto-kun? And what did you think?" Sometimes Naruto didn't like how logically Tari-chan approached her questions._

"_Some girls who were starting their first year in the academy were talking about a boy. They called him cute. I... I saw him and I think he's really cute too." Naruto mumbled, blushing but completely tense._

"_Well, that doesn't necessarily mean you're gay, Naruto-kun." Tari said gently. He glanced at her and as she spread her arms again, he hugged her. "That could just mean he's really pretty. Is he? What's his name?" _

"_Uchiha Sasuke."_

"_Computer, pull up image of villager Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto blushed when Sasuke's class picture was shown. "That him?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Ah. He is very cute." She agreed lightly, trying to get Naruto to relax. She felt how his heart jumped at the sight of the other boy, and knew Naruto held his breath for a moment. Naruto said nothing, choosing to stare at his hands. She pulled him into her lap and he curled into her. "So, we know he's cute. What about this one? Computer, pull up image of a random male classmate of Uzumaki Naruto." Another black haired boy was shown, his eyes a bright green._

"_Well, he's not ugly." Naruto said shyly. He was more relaxed though. Of course, it could be that Naruto joined the academy three years earlier than his age group. His classmates were all older than him._

"_Computer, show random female classmate of Uchiha Sasuke." A girl with pink hair and green eyes was shown smiling adorably._

"_She's cute." Naruto said easily. Then he realized what he said and promptly blushed. _

"_Okay, see? You're not gay. You just like girls and can appreciate the good looking males around you." Naruto frowned._

"_But Sasuke..." Naruto swallowed. "He makes my heart feel fluttery."_

"Uh-oh. I think someone's got a crush..._" Naruto looked up at Tari-chan's smiling expression. He scowled._

"_Don't make fun of me! And stop speaking funny!"_

"_It's called English, Naruto. I just haven't started you on it. And I'm not making fun of you. I think you're adorable. Computer, pull up a few pictures of Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto." The computer found a shot of Naruto looking at Sasuke near the water. "Aww!"_

"_Tari-chan stop!" _

"_Okay okay!" Naruto pulled out of her arms and stepped away, then nibbled his lip and looked at her with a lack of confidence he didn't normally show. "So I'm not a freak?"_

"_Of course not, Naruto! Anyone who says so is wrong. I can even tell you that I like a lot of men, but I can easily say that Ayame-chan is very cute."_

"_Would you think about kissing Ayame-chan?" Naruto asked curiously._

"_Sure. In fact, I have a few times now that I think about it." Tari-chan look contemplative with a little smile. It was only a few pecks on the cheek between friends, but she wanted to let Naruto know he could relax. He was too young to be thinking about this anyway, much less actually worrying._

"_Oh... Okay. Thank you Tari-chan."_

"_Sure thing, Naruto. Don't worry so much about this, okay? Chances are, you'll outgrow it. I did when I had my first crush. Almost everyone does."_

"_Okay."Naruto smiled, extremely relieved. _

"_Now scram, brat." With a playful swat, Tari shooed Naruto away. He paused at the door, prepared to get the last word when the woman continued talking to herself. "Oh gods, he's too young for that shit. What is wrong with this time? Kids aren't supposed to even think about sex and love until they're at least twenty! Wasn't there that unspoken law about this? Like you can't breathe water, don't teach kids about sex! Shhesh, millennia ago they used to have sex ed for elementary kids, and look where that got them! Computer, lock onto restrictions of information controls for Uzumaki Naruto."_

**Locking... Information control restriction accessed.**

_Naruto peaked back into the room, curious to know what Tari was doing about him. And what she was freaking about this time. She said it was okay for him to like Sasuke. What was wrong then?_

"_Computer, secure and lock all data with keywords: intercourse and sex."_

**Information restricted. **

"_Good. Restriction code 40AlphaZeta5-" Naruto snuck away. What was an intercourse? And what was a sex? If Tari-chan wouldn't tell him, or let him find out, he'd just have to beat the system. He grinned. That was what he did best, having learned from the best. Now, what's another word for intercourse or sex..._

_He never would have guessed sour fruit could be synonymous with such an intimate act._

_But hey! He got a few brand new jutsu out of it! He was going to call it Oiroke no Jutsu!_

X

'_And now, the bastard is in my squad.'_ Naruto scowled. From what he could see, Sasuke had been a very shy child, but outgoing if he had encouragement from his family. After the Uchiha massacure, though, the boy was less shy and more recluse. And angry. He snapped at people and ignored others. If he glared at you, you could tell he was thinking insults. He became unstable.

And Naruto still crushed on him.

'_Damn him!_' Naruto wished lunch would never end, just so he didn't have to be on a squad with the Uchiha. Though, he did want to be a ninja, and that will only start when he meets his jounin sensei and pass the introductory test. He still had thirty minutes though...

"Tolerance, reveal all information about the Uchiha Massacre."

_**Opening files pertaining to the Massacre of the Uchiha Clan.**_

A small red triangle glowed even as written files were found and revealed.

"Tolerance, open corresponding notes to program."

_**Duly noted: connect to satellite feed for visual data recommended. Connect to main computer of the city for audio data recommended.**_

"Tolerance, connect to satellite and main city computer for visual and audio supplements for data of previous command."

_**Connecting… connecting… connected to satellite. Connecting… connected to main computer of city.**_

Naruto watched as even more files poured through into his Flip Book. He almost whistled in amazement. After four more seconds, ten seconds total, Tolerance was done.

"Tolerance, save all files into folder named: Uchiha Massacre."

_**Files saved into folder: Uchiha Massacre.**_

Hearing footsteps, Naruto closed Tolerance and set it down. He took a few more bites of his lunch before feeling safe enough to continue. He had a few more minutes before the early students started coming. Placing his Flip Book on its side, he tapped the bottom corner to automatically have the computer actually look like a computer. He typed up his search and quickly opened his new file.

"Only text documents for now. No need for anyone else to hear, or see, what this is. Alright, what's this about? Time was 1532... 6,678 suspects... ...what? Order of the... Hokage-jiji ordered this? The hell? ...Uchiha Itachi, Anbu... family... he's the older brother of Sasuke... Uchiha Madara... red moon... Whoa." Hearing footsteps, Naruto closed Tolerance and slipped it closed. He scarfed his food down and made to throw it away just as students started coming in. He sat down quietly. One by one, squads left with their jounin. Naruto prepared for a long wait, trying not to let Sasuke's presence, and hidden past, bother him too much. He'd go ditto with his other teammate.

"Arg! Where are they! First Naruto and Now our sensei! You! Why are you here anyway?" Sakura demanded eventually.

'I liked you better when you were little.'Naruto thought as he glared behind his red shades. Of course, that was also before Sakura proclaimed her love of Sasuke and thus made herself an enemy of Uzumaki Naruto thereof. "I'm in your squad." He said instead.

"No, Uzumaki is. Who are you? You haven't been with us throughout the year."

"Uzumaki joined your year this year, why can't I have joined for the graduation?" Naruto asked instead.

"We know he was a classmate. You-"

"Just trust Iruka-sensei. And if you've gotta piss do it now. Kakashi is going to be late at least another ten minutes."

"How do you know?"

"I know everything about this village."

"Do you know how Naruto passed, then? We all saw him fail the test, and there's no such thing as a makeup test."

'_Why does everyone but me know that?'_ Naruto moved a desk away from Sasuke and Sakura. "He stopped, defeated, and captured an enemy ninja – a traitor of the village – from escaping with the village's secret list of strongest jutsus available. In fact, he managed to learn a move from the scroll before turning it back in."

The two stared at him.

"You liar." Sakura said.

"That dobe can't even do a normal third year Bushin no Jutsu. How can he learn a strong move?"

"He has poor control for small chakra required jutsu, but he has a ridiculous abundance of chakra for the stronger, less finesse required jutsu. Believe what you want. You have to learn to rely on him since we're all a team now."

"You all will only slow me down."

"Keep that attitude and I'm making sure you can't move at all without help. A squad is a team, asshole!" Naruto said before Sasuke could say anything. "That's what makes Konoha strong. If you don't believe in that, what are you becoming a ninja for? We make each other strong as a team. Iruka-sensei said we were put together to be as strong as possible, not to become a liability to each other. Duh." Sasuke glared, and Naruto ignored it.

"Who do you think you are! Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!"

"And what about you yourself? What can you do, Haruno-san? What are you good at? Book smarts? You know what they say; those who are book smart have no street smarts. After this, we'll be in the real world. The deadly one. Books aren't going to help you, so shove your high and mighty princess attitude in your ass and twist! Wake up! If you have the gall to badmouth people you better have the guts to back yourself out of that trap corner! Arg! Why me? Why did I have to get _you two_ and _him_ for my team!" Frustrated and cranky, Naruto stormed to the door.

"Hey, you said we were a team! You can't leave! You get us all in trouble!"

"I'm going to the roof!" Naruto slammed the door.

He really didn't want this team.

"Why can't genin get solo missions?" He complained with a growl as he made his way to the roof. He passed his sensei, who decided to stop spying from the next room over, and said nothing. The man probably didn't recognize him. Kakashi said nothing either, opting to lumber lazily to the classroom Naruto just walked out of. Sakura's ranting could still be heard.

Naruto had just sat down as his sensei shushined onto the rail. He didn't dare flinch, half expecting it anyway.

"Yo." Kakashi said cheerfully, obviously trying not to be intimidating,

"Yo." Naruto replied in a less jovial tone.

"Sorry to interrupt whatever it was you were doing, but I'm meeting my team here. Could you give us some privacy for a few minutes?"

"You must not have gotten the memo. I'm a part of that team." Naruto replied evenly. Kakashi's expression didn't change, though Naruto could imagine that he was wondering where that memo was. Considering it didn't exist.

"Ah, and you are?"

"You'll find out with everyone else." Kakashi dropped his lax expression and looked at Naruto more seriously.

"Hm, so you're the one who gave such an inspiring pep talk to two of my genin. You wouldn't happen to know where Uzumaki Naruto is?"

"Around. I wouldn't worry. It's not like he was late or anything." Kakashi made no change in his facial expressions as Naruto made the jab. Though, he did swear the man seemed to lighten up as if amused. After a few moments of waiting, Sasuke and Sakura arrived. Naruto looked away from them pointedly.

"Right, I suppose you can fill our missing student in when you find him, yes?" Naruto rolled his eyes. "Great! Now, I am your jounin instructor for this squad. Let's start by saying a few things about each other so we can get to know each other better. You know, likes, dislikes, hobbies, whatever." Kakashi waited expectantly.

"Right!" Naruto said suddenly. "You are Hatake Kakashi! The famous Sharingan Kakashi and Copycat Ninja! You love literature and long walks in the park. Well, technically, you love porn and frequently visit the ever depressing Memorial Stone. But, hey, at least you are a stickler for the rules! No matter how you like bending them in terms of tardiness because of a certain mission with your first squad around teammates your own age. Your hair is naturally silver and no you are not an old man, your welcome."

"Enough." Kakashi commanded lowly. "I get the point, thank you. You can go next." Naruto grinned.

"Okay! This is Haruno Sakura! She's a first generation Kunoichi candidate, loves Uchiha Sasuke even though she's too young to really know what love it, hates her best friend which is an oxymoron in itself and hates her forehead even more, which really isn't even a disfigurement, so she's just a very cute and insecure girl." Sakura, who had been ready for a punch, suddenly blushed and backed off. "Her dream is to become an Uchiha, even though she has no idea what the heck she signed herself up for. Though, to be fair, she was barely a toddler when she made the decision. Ah, propaganda."

"You know what I meant." Kakashi said pointedly, though Naruto still didn't feel pressured to be serious. After all, he could still tell the jounin wasn't.

"I did, but I'm also waiting for that underscore of authority that you're supposed to show to prove your identity to me." Nonplussed, Kakashi took out his verification ID. Naruto blinked at it in surprise before Kakashi realized why ne never showed anyone his ID card.

He didn't have a mask on in it; protocol and everything.

Kakashi swiped his card back before his other two present students could see it.

"..." Naruto's brain failed to come up with anything to say as he stared at his hand. He was also trying not to blush.

"So, er, Haruno-chan, do you have anything else to say?" Unsure, Sakura shook her head. Kakashi pointed at Sasuke. "Your turn, now." He was hoping to prevent this strange boy from talking for them.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha. I have no likes, but plenty of dislikes. My main dislike revolves around the murderer of my clan. I aim to become stronger than him to avenge my family, and ensure my clan can come back without fear of destruction. I will be the strongest shinobi in the world."

"Perfect." Kakshi beamed, happy enough that his strange shell-shocked student hadn't recovered before Sasuke finished. "Now, before we continue anymore, we shall have to hunt down our last member then confirm _your_ actual placement." Kakashi said with a pointed look to Naruto. "Come along team, let's look for Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto cleared his throat.

"Present and accounted for. Hello, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am twelve years old and everything else you knew about me before now was a lie. Congratulations." Naruto said just as everyone else stood up. They looked at him blankly before becoming suspicious.

"You're not Naruto." Rolling his eyes, Naruto lowered his shades and looked at the three with his bright blue eyes. He tugged his grey bandana away with his other hand.

"I'm pretty sure I am. Thank you for questioning me upon my own identity while I stand here perfectly sound in body and mind. I became a shinobi for the glory and challenge of infiltration and information espionage. You were all my first guinea pigs. Congratulations again."

"Who are you calling a guinea pig!" Sakura cracked her knuckles threateningly.

"Hn, loser. You're still a dead last." Sasuke was unimpressed. He completely disregarded everything that made him slightly interested in the other boy during the past three hours.

Kakashi said nothing, thoroughly impressed. While sarcastic and witty, the information presented about himself had been accurate to an uncanny degree. Not only that, but he managed to blend in with his teammates and still not be recognized. Kakashi could even admit that he didn't suspect Naruto of being this mysterious boy upon first impression.

"Well, now that we are all here after all, I suppose I can reveal the details of the test you are all going to be taking tomorrow. Unless Naruto would like to reveal what he dug up about that too?" Kakashi asked, curious.

"Well, chances of failure are pretty high and if we do fail, we're being put either in the reserves or back to the academy. Of course, jounin have the ability to call whether a student should be banned from becoming ninja at all. All tests are different, but if you're a traditionalist, I'm pretty confidant I can figure out the objective by tomorrow."

"You're welcome to try." Kakashi eye-smiled encouragingly. He knew for a fact that details of his tests were only in records through memory and verbal stories. There was no paper trail for this boy to read like his personal information and past missions.

"Ano, what kind of test is this going to be, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Survival training, of course."

"But we did a lot of survival training in the academy. Why do it again?"

"Because that was all kiddie stuff. If you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you'll never pass." Two of his genin paled, making Kakashi very proud of himself. If Naruto really was a part of the Mizuki scandal a few nights ago, he supposed the boy had proven potential. "So! Let's meet at training ground, oh, fourteen tomorrow at five in the morning. Oh, I wouldn't advise eating anything either, so don't pack any food. You'll just throw it all up..." Kakashi tried not to worry about Naruto victorious grin which slowly grew after revealing the training ground. "You're all dismissed. See you tomorrow bright and early at 0500!"

xXx TBC… xXx

HK: Okay, first and foremost! I have no idea how far I'm pushing FFNet's boundaries with the flashback scene. If you think I passed the rating, please let me know so I can edit this crap. Thank you everyone!

And I apologize if it seems like I'm bashing Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto's upset. He's bound to complain, right? I'll try to ease off. He's got to cool off sometime, after all.

Can anyone double check my spelling? I think I need a beta. Any volunteers?

Lastly, I just realized that in the previous chapter, the nifty little formatting that I did for Naruto's hacking event was all messed up by FFNet. I might try to fix it later, but I'm just letting you know now that I didn't plan for it to look so odd to read.

P.S. A big thank you to all my wonderful reviewers, awesome followers, and coolest alert listers ever! I promise to speed up the story line soon!

Posted: 31Dec10


	4. Define Squad Relate Synonym to Team

Title: Technicalities

Rating: T

Character(s): Naruto Uzumaki

Summary: Ninja's technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?

Disclaimer: I own no one but my OC. You'll know her when you see her.

Warnings: Maybe a little OOC. You'll have to be the judge. And there's a bit of a hint to Naruto crushing on a certain guy. Just a heads up, it's not going anywhere.

xXx Chapter Four: Define Squad. Relate Synonym to Team. xXx

Naruto, despite his attitude the day before, greeted his teammates with a smile and a chipper good morning. They glared at him with unamused and impatient looks of distain. Undaunted, he continued his training in his tessen jutsu to waste the five hours he knew their teacher would take to show himself. He really liked his tessen. It was made of dark grey metal for the frame. The fan section was orange and black with a pattern of swirling flames. The border tip and outer ribs were thinly outlined on bright light blue. Naruto really liked his fan.

After the test started, Naruto disappeared. Having seen past recording of Kakashi's test via satellite, he wasn't surprised when the man had shown his two bells. He had just the plan to make the man give it to them. Hopefully. No plan in foolproof, after all. History says so.

"Tolerance," Naruto said quietly as Kakashi engaged in combat with Sasuke. "Initiate hypnotism..."

X

Kakashi was greatly disappointed today. He had such high hopes for his team, for once. But they all lacked in _grasping_ the concept of teamwork. Sasuke was well known for his overall roundness of abilities. Saskura was the best kunoichi of her class, grade-wise. That had to count for something. And while Naruto had the poorest grades of all, he had shown amazing promise yesterday and, if Kakashi were to be honest with himself – which he was – he would say that he was placing most of his hopes on the interesting blond. He seemed to be extremely well informed, despite his track record, and Kakashi was hoping the boy would find the answer and thus tell his teammates to ensure real placement as genin.

Except Sasuke was far too headstrong, Sakura had no motivation whatsoever, and Naruto was nowhere to be seen.

The alarm chimed in the distance. Sasuke scowled and stopped attacking, completely out of breath.

"Well then, let's go find your team." Kakashi said lightly, thoroughly disappointed. Sasuke helped wake Sakura up and she immediately started crying before becoming completely quiet in melancholy when she was told their time was up. Naruto wandered into the clearing just as they did and was the one to shut off the clock. He was looking at it blankly as they all gathered around the lunches. Kakashi stood in front of the three before sighing deeply.

"Well, now I have to ask. What, exactly, were you three thinking?" The group was quiet, Naruto still looking at the clock in his hands. Sasuke started with a scowl Kakashi was liking less and less.

"I didn't need them. If I just had more time-"

"Well, you didn't, so turns out you did need help, huh?" Kakashi interrupted quickly. He was beginning to notice that the last Uchiha wasn't so well rounded after all. He failed. Kakashi couldn't even imagine what he'd have to do to make the boy realize that teamwork was the best way to complete missions.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura paused and unclenched her fist before looking at her fingers clasped in her lap. "I wasn't thinking of passing at all. I was just wanting to be near Sasuke-kun." She admit quietly. Kakashi gave her kudos for admitting that. She seemed about to revert to a fangirl type of personality at the beginning. There was hope for her, but Kakashi wasn't going to deal with her as a student. She failed.

"That's a very big thing to admit. I'm glad you can see that, Sakura. What about you, Naruto?" Kakashi didn't even bother to hide the disappointment in his tone. Naruto looked up from the clock.

"Well, I was thinking I just had to wait till I got everyone together. Then I could grab the bells without you noticing and give them to Uchiha-san and Haruno-san. I did say something about teamwork yesterday, and I'm pretty sure that's what the test is about, right?"

"Right. So, where were you and when were you planning to tell your _teammates_ about that plan?" Kakashi asked, mildly amused at the impossible chance Naruto was counting on without even letting the other two genin know what he was planning.

"Right before we passed! After all, when we all came together, we still had seven minutes before the real alarm sounded! Surprise!" Naruto showed the clock to them all just as it counted down to noon and started ringing. Naruto tensed and dropped a smoke bomb at his feet. Without thinking, Kakashi jumped away to dodge the obviously charging genin. The alarm meant they all failed, but an attack was still an attack. Kakashi couldn't quite turn off such an instinctive reaction.

The smoke cleared and Naruto was revealed where he had been standing, still holding the ringing clock. He was grinning widely as he turned it off, everyone hearing the clicking that the first alarm lacked. Kakashi glanced at his belt and saw the bells were still there. The other two genin were coughing at the smoke.

"Maa, Naruto-kun... You still failed." The jounin said as he carefully relaxed his body.

"Nuh-uh. Touch the bells, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi did, and didn't feel them. He could see them, but his hand was going right through them.

'Genjutsu? I don't sense any chakra. Kai! ...What?' Kakashi looked at Naruto expectantly.

"Check your pockets, guys." Naruto said as his maniac smile relaxed. The other two did cautiously and quickly pulled out two jingling bells in surprise. Kakashi stared. His brain didn't quite know what to think. "So, Kakashi-sensei, are we going to be a team from now on?" Kakashi pointed at his hips, which were still jingling as he walked closer.

"Explain." Was Naruto a genjutsu protege ? That was a scary thought. He couldn't even tell if he was actually under an illusion.

"It'll wear off." Naruto waved his hand in unconcern.

"Details. What did you do, Naruto? This isn't a genjutsu." Naruto pulled out his tessen and fanned himself. His red sunglasses glinted in an unreadable way.

"Well, I suppose you'll find out eventually... But, not now. I can't exactly explain it. It's just my special ability."

"You have a kekkai genkai?" Sakura asked, holding the bell up as if she wasn't sure it was real. Kakashi wondered if that was a scarier thought than the genjutsu idea.

"Nope. None I know, anyway. This is something I can just do." He grinned teasingly to Kakashi. "Want to know how I know you're wearing blue underwear with yellow polka dots? How Uchiha-san is wearing a pair of boring black briefs? How Haruno-san is wearing pink lacey panties and a white training bra? Same thing. Can't tell you now, but maybe later."

Kakashi could feel his brain melting out of his ears.

Sasuke was glaring enough to burn hotter than a hell on the sun.

Sakura was red in rage and mortification. She couldn't even breathe enough to yell.

"Of course, that's only a possibility if we're an official team. Congratulations, Kakashi-sensei! You're a sensei to three!" Naruto handed him the clock as he passed him. "Just so you know, I'm a very impressionable little boy. If you read porn in front of me, who knows what I'll end up doing. As it stands, you're probably going to find a surprise on your bookshelf. The one under your bed anyway. Thanks for the lunch by the way. I'll have to eat it later, though. I had a pretty big breakfast."

Kakashi was speechless and numb. He didn't know if he should feel exited at such a promising student, or horrified that someone could find out so much information so easily. Or even terrified that the boy knew of his secret shelf of books under his bed.

"You all pass..." He managed to say before walking away as well. The clock in his hands was unnoticed as the fake bells still chimed together as he walked. He could have made them quiet, like he'd done during the whole test – which wasn't really a test in the first place, apparently – but he needed verification that he wasn't just imagining them there. He still couldn't feel them though.

Sakura and Sasuke were still standing in place, nerves slowly cooling off.

"Ano, Sasuke-kun," Sakura didn't know where to start. "See you tomorrow." She had to look for bugs in her room. And tell her mom and dad she's a real ninja. And figure out what to do to Naruto when she saw him next. And get a punching bag installed in her room, that way she could pummel it into the first floor after drawing Naruto's face in it. Maybe later ask Sasuke out on a date, but that punching bag came first. Forget lunch, she was going to attack something until she couldn't move. Shannaro~! How dare Naruto peek at her panties!

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he started walking home, glaring at the ground. Naruto was definitely different than he was at school. Could it be possible he was lying the whole year? He admit to himself, yes. It just might be possible. A memory surfaced, and he scowled as he continued to his house.

X

_Sasuke walked the route to his house with thoughts so loud he couldn't hear any of them. A part of him was worried about his obvious depression since the death of his family, but he really didn't care. As he passed the pier of the lake, he saw a flash of yellow in the red sunset._

_A woman was darting around _on_ the water, laughing at the shore at the side. Her long blond hair swept her body as she moved, and Sasuke could see the ripples at her feet were not from her. A schoolmate of his, being in a higher year, was throwing rocks at her. Uzumaki Naruto. His own blond hair was dripping with water, and his overly-large orange clothes made him look like a wet cat. Definitely more pathetic than normal._

"_Try again!" The woman encouraged._

"_-a-an!" Naruto warbled in frustration, his voice cracking undistinguishingly. _

"_Uzumaki, has a mother?" Sasuke asked himself. He could remember hearing teachers, and even other parents, say the blond was a nuisance and an orphan. The tall woman nimbly dodged the stones being thrown at her, a small black block in her hand being waved around._

"_Get out here and get it, my little baby!"_

"_I'm not a baby!" Most of the words were still hard to hear, but Sasuke could easily understand the statement. Then, to his amazement, Naruto huffed and cautiously approached the water. He couldn't care less that the younger boy was getting closer to the water he'd been in earlier, but the fact that the blond was _walking on the water_ was more the reason he stared and gapped. Naruto's feet dipped waveringly into the surface with each step, but he stayed up as he made his way to the woman who was his mother. He slowly reached to her when he got closer and she gently gave him the small black block. He beamed at her, and promptly fell. The woman laughed._

"_Great job, my wonderful little boy!"_

"_I'm no- or- ful-oy! And I'm not _little_!" Sasuke snorted. He watched with a pang of loss as the woman picked Naruto up and gave him a hug, walking to the shore with him in her arms. She was getting soaked by the second, but she was taking her time as she spoke to Naruto. The blond glowed, both of them._

_Sasuke suddenly started walking away, wiping tears as he missed his own kaa-san. He wondered, would his mom have taught him to walk on water if she lived? Would she be proud when he learned it, like Naruto's mom? _

X

Kakashi walked into the meeting room, on time. No one commented on it, figuring someone must have told him a false time, early. Kakashi was obviously happy – no doubt for failing his team – and they weren't going to spoil it and risk his wrath of trading gate duty, as he was wont to do.

Damn Kakashi's ability at poker...

"Eh-hem! Now, let us get started. Team one, pass or fail?"

"Fail. They could have passed, but they must have cheated the Academy somehow because none of their skills are close to genin." Kakashi crowed in his head. His students were the best! He supposed the real losers had to go somewhere.

"Team two?"

"Fail."

"Team three?"

"Fail." Kakashi continued to look at his little orange book, spying inconspicuously at everyone.

"Team four?"

"Fail."

"Team five?" Kakashi briefly wondered how everyone would look when he dropped the ball.

"Fail, Hokage-sama." He decided they might not even hear him at first.

"Team six?" He did have a reputation of never passing students, after all.

"Fail, sir." He wanted to do an evil laugh.

"Team seven?" But not now.

"Pass." Kakashi supposed he'd have to settle for an eye smile.

"Team eight?"

"Pa-?" Kurenai choked on her words as she turned to look at him with startled red eyes. "Did you say 'pass' Kakashi?" She asked, incredulous. All eyes were on him.

"Oh, yeah. They're actually pretty good. Especially Naruto." Mwahahahaha! Kakashi slowly grinned as the Hokage tried to fix his mistaken recording without anyone noticing.

"Naruto?" Hagane asked, scratching the bandage on his nose as a way to look less impressed than he was. Kakashi could see right through it. Mwahahahaha!

"Hai." Kakashi confirmed with a voice of complete unconcern. He turned a page in his book when he realized he was looking at it too long.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" Kamizuki tried to clarify.

"Hai." Kakashi almost snickered out loud when the two looked at each other uncomprehendingly. "If wasn't for him, I wouldn't even have passed the three."

"Uchiha Sasuke wasn't the reason you passed them?" Asuma asked. His cigarette was sticking limply to the corner of his mouth.

"Ah, no. He's almost not ready for shinobi life, but I'm certain Naruto will help him out." The room looked as if everyone may have a stroke at any moment.

"Haruno Sakura, the brightest girl in the class, wasn't the deciding factor in your decision?" Kurenai asked, looking almost personally indignant. She always was something of a feminist. Sort of.

"No, not really." Mwahahahaha! "In fact she fainted within ten minutes of the test." Kurenai's face shadowed.

"You're serious? Team seven passed?" The Hokage asked, just to be sure.

"Yup! I'm very happy to take them." Kakashi said, truthfully.

Somewhere, a little blond boy shuddered in premonition. That boy blamed his new sensei, who was known to be creepy and downright weird. He figured he'd have to be weirder in retaliation, but not now.

Mwahahaha! Kakashi blinked at everyone's startled looks and realized he accidently let that one out loud. Oh well. "Mwahahaha!"

He walked out calmly.

X

Naruto stared determinedly at his Flip Book. His files painted a whole new picture of Konoha, and it was a rather dark and oppressive picture to see. So this was history? Naruto supposed that was the best way to describe it; it must be why history is the answer to everything for Tarisha-chan.

"What are you learning, Naruto?"

"Tari-chan... is there a symbolism to a red moon?" Tari looked at him with one eye, drinking a can of juice.

"Historically, technically, or religiously?"

"All?" Tari hummed, glancing at Tolerance in consideration before moving to sit at her table with the small blond.

"Well, light is a spectrum of various wavelengths, right?" Thrown off topic, it took Naruto a moment to answer with a nod. "Red is longest reaching wavelength a human eye can detect. When particles in the atmosphere of the planet obstruct light, if any light remains, it will be tinted in red. This generally takes something like a volcanic eruption of great proportions or even a solar eclipse."

"Yeah, I know. What about symbolic meaning? Not the how's and what-have-you's." Naruto tried to direct her. She always was very technical. She smiled at him as she sipped her juice.

"If you want to look at it differently, then the rays of light are fighting through the darkness, and the one remaining victor of light and dark will still be bloody red. It is a battle all for nothing as night time will end eventually anyway. Red moons used to be seen as an end of days, where everything will be destroyed in an apocalypse. This is usually because a red moon on land meant a storm would be approaching soon because of it. Though, if you were a sailor, there was a poem about a red sky; Red skies in the morning, sailors take warning. Red skies in the night, sailors delight. Obviously, there was or wasn't a storm approaching depending on when exactly a red sky was seen. Um, red moons are also called blood moons and were seen as a symbol of war and destruction either impending or current."

"I wish you just told me the last part." Naruto mumbled good naturedly. She tipped her can to him.

"Why do you ask?" Tari-chan asked as she looked at Tolerance's back curiously. Naruto wasn't sure how to start as he nibbled his lip in contemplation.

"Ano, there's a group trying to get all the bijuu and jinchuuriki." He said quietly. Since graduation, Naruto was terrified of his best friend – the same woman who pretty much raised him – finding out about him being a demon. He didn't want her to turn her face away like the rest of the villagers. Instead, she was skeptical when she found out. She didn't believe in demons. Thus the two researched with the satellites and land computers and even the databases in the village. They found out what Naruto was, a jinchuuriki, and the following ramifications of his life thereof. To know there was a group hunting these demons and containers was disturbing.

"Are they worth looking out for?" Naruto glanced at his Flip Book.

"I think they were the real reason for the Uchiha Massacre. They're called Akatsuki." Tari frowned before taking out her own Flip Book. It wasn't the one she used to have, and she mourned the loss of all that information accumulated in her life, but she was using it more often now. It did have more capabilities than her wrist band, and she was very determined to hack into her own backup system. Eventually.

"Faith, connect current screen to Tolerance of Uzu Naru."

_**Connecting…**_

Naruto listened closely with a mental note. He didn't know this was possible. Then again, he shouldn't be surprised anymore. Tari-chan knew everything about her computers. A ding echoed from both computers, and Naruto saw in his top left corner a red bar blinking yellow dots along the strip. 'Religion of Tari-chan connected' was noted underneath.

"Uchiha Madara..." She said quietly in an odd tone as she speed read. Naruto was surprised when his screen started scrolling through text without him doing anything. Tari-chan was messing with his computer remotely. A part of him was amazed, the rest was indignant. She was hacking into HIS computer! "Interesting. Naruto, I'll go ahead and look into this. You just train and get stronger with your team. If I find anything interesting and/or important, I'll give you a heads up. Now, hand me your tessen."

"What!" She snorted at him in amusement. Naruto clutched at his fan protectively.

"Please? I found an interesting seal array and I know your baby is barely out of its box, but I think it'll help. It's a protection thing that will keep it sharp, nick-free, and easy to clean. Best put it on when still minty new. What do you say?"

"Oh, okay. But be careful." Naruto ordered reluctantly. The blue border was the most that could be see as he handed it over closed. The many sectioned edges were slid close together and still remained sharp enough to slice a block of wood if dragged across a face.

Naruto knew this because he tested it. Repeatedly. Proudly.

"I'll be back in ten minutes. Finish your lunch and then go meet your team."

"Will I have my tessen back?"

"Of course. You'll get it before you leave."

"Okay." Naruto ate with a worried gut. His computers were like a lifeline and an extension of himself. His fan was his baby. It was much more important therefore.

X

Naruto waited patiently outside his old apartment. Kakashi-sensei didn't say where to meet after passing his team, so Naruto figured the man would be using the shinobi records to find his students' addresses. As Tari-chan didn't technically exist in person, though she did in records – finally – Naruto couldn't expect the man to be waiting for him at the alleyway leading to Tari-chan's home.

Naruto fought a blush when his mind wandered and gave the thought that it was rather like a date to be picked up at his home for the day. Tari-chan would probably say it was hormones, so he was glad she didn't know telepathy. That was a scary thought...

He studied his tessen to switch his train of thought and pass time. Opening and closing it, he melded his chakra into the motion to fire small blades of wind to the concrete wall of the outdoor hall. Thin scratches were littered in front of him, eventually forming characters, letters, symbols and words.

_Prestigious... A B C... biochemist warrior... blue frogs..._

"I wonder what he's doing?" Naruto finally said when his wrist popped from the repeated motions. Pulsing his chakra, he tentatively searched the area that others could see or hear him in. Feeling no matured chakra from shinobi, as civilians didn't quite count, he took out his computer. "Tolerance, search satellite footages for current activities of Hatake Kakashi of Konohagakure no Sato."

_**Satellite feed of Hatake Kakashi running without sound.**_

Without sound? He could listen in with the satellites? That was a great idea! He probably could have learned this earlier during the Mizuki incident instead of going with the suggestion of tracing anything he spoke outloud...

"Tolerance, initiate sound feed with previous command."

_**Running satellite feed of Hatake Kakashi with sound.**_

Both screens of Tolerance showed a side of his sensei. One showed more of the man's front, the other more of his back. Naruto allowed himself the guilty pleasure of admiring his sensei before focusing on what he was doing.

Kakashi was kneeling in a tree, peeking through the branches predatorily. The complete attention was shaded with a little concern. Naruto could hear talking in the background, and impulsively put two fingers on his screen and pinched. He amazed himself when the image zoomed out and cleared itself into focus. He was even more amazed when he could hear Sakura more clearly.

"-late! I don't believe it! I still need to kick Naruto's ass!" Naruto cringed. Maybe waiting for his sensei wasn't the way to go. His other teammates were obviously able to deduct where and when to meet today. He wondered if they arrived at 0500.

Kakashi glanced at the sun, judging the time. Naruto looked at the corner of the screen. 1028. Kakashi normally showed up around 1030 or 1100. Well, he'd best be off.

With one last slash to the wall from his fan, Naruto stood up and leapt towards the roof.

X

Sasuke was annoyed. Not only was half of his team late, one being his sensei, but his other teammate insisted on being annoying. Just when he was ready to snap at the only girl on his team, a small flash of gold glinted in the sunlight – Naruto's bangs peaking through his bandana. A part of him expected to relax. Most of him only grew more annoyed.

"You're late." He said as soon as Naruto was close enough.

"You dirty bastard!" Sakura yelled as she tried to punch Naruto in the head. Naruto swiftly ducked and dodged.

"Oi! I'm here before sensei, aren't I? I wouldn't call that late, especially since no one mentioned a meeting time or place to begin with." Naruto pouted. "Eek!" He dodged another swipe from Sakura. "Hey, that almost hit me! Besides, your stance is too forward and punch is lacking. Try straightening your shoulders and hips."

"Rah!" Sakura yelled as she prepared to kick. A cloud of smoke disrupted her and caused the three to scatter a few feet.

"Hi Kakashi-sensei! Great afternoon, huh?" Naruto greeted before the smoke cleared. He was grateful the man interrupted Sakura before the girl could kick his ass. Literally.

"You're late!" Sakura screamed. "We've been here since five this morning! Where have you been!"

"Great way to talk to your superior, by the way." Naruto stated. Sakura slapped her hands to her mouth in mortification. "As to where he's been," He pointed to the tree Kakashi was in. "he's been in that tree." Sakura glowered at him.

"How do you know that?" Sasuke challenged him. Kakashi took out his book and relaxed to watch the show. He was even willing to admit that he was very curious at Naruto's abilities also, but that was only if someone asked really really nice. Naruto opened his shiny fan and hid half of his face. The rest of the team could easily tell he was smiling at them regardless.

"I specialize in information. Personal, secret, rare, obscure, and forgotten. Especially forgotten. I have fun with that."

"You spy on people for personal information?" Naruto nodded happily. "What happened to personal privacy?" Sakura asked, trying visibly to restrain herself from punching at the blond again.

"Privacy is the ability of an individual to exercise control over the collection, use, and dissemination of personal information." Naruto beamed happily, not caring what everyone else thought. This was his prided ability.

"What?" Sakura asked, the rest looking likewise puzzled. Naruto forgave them for their ignorance, after all, not everyone was monolingual in layman terms. And that was putting it nicely.

"It's the freedom from unauthorized intrusion. Thus, of privacy, you have none! If I can get to it, it isn't secure enough." He chirped proudly with a point of his fan. "I am a ninja, after all." He added when Sakura glared. She turned away, knowing that he was partially right. That didn't mean she had to like it though. Sasuke remained quiet, unable to help but wonder exactly what Naruto knew that no one else knew. Kakashi broke the silence, as it was obvious none of the children were going to say anything else.

"Well, Naruto, can you use your nifty powers of information gathering to tell your teammates what we'll be doing today?" Naruto didn't move, wondering himself.

"Er, chores or training?" He gambled. It was as educated a guess as he could make.

"Right!" Kakashi praised, privately a little creeped out by this point. "First we'll pick up a mission request and when we're done with that mission, we'll be doing some basic training steps so I can see where everyone is. Come along my little minions."

"Yes master!" Naruto obeyed with more verbal enthusiasm than facial expression. Sakura looked interested in her first real mission and Sasuke wondered about Naruto's sudden lack of enthusiasm.

He got his answer when Kakashi read the mission statement out loud in front of their client's house.

"We're doing what?" He asked, unamused. If this was a joke...

"Weeding Tadeki-san's garden." Naruto supplied helpfully. He was glared at.

"But, that's not a real mission." Sakura noted, partially relieved and partially insulted.

"We'll that's what the scroll says." Kakashi said firmly. "Now, hop to it chibi-minions. It says our deadline is... in one hour."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto chirped before looking over the large garden blankly. Sakura and Sasuke grimaced at messy garden. The three thought the same thing.

'If Kakashi-senesi had arrived earlier, we'd have had more time.'

Kakashi watched closely. He hadn't explained to his team the importance of D-rank missions intentionally. Naruto seemed to know just how the team should be, and even seemed to have a plan on how to get his own team to that level of teamwork. Kakashi wanted to see what the blond would do. What he saw made him even more curious.

Naruto created some Kage Bushin and spread them out for more coverage than just the three genin. He asked Sakura on confirmation tips on how to tell a weed from a desirable flower. He said her best friend worked at a flower shop, so she would have gleaned something, right? She did. He suggested Sasuke stick close to Sakura for that reason of her being a quick reference. The way he suggested it was very long and would have been confusing, but Sasuke didn't know that the idea wasn't his own. He was playing the other two on their prides and personalities so the three could work together without stepping on any egos. The three finished in thirty minutes. Kakashi was expecting to have to do a quick cleanup with his own Kage Bushin so they didn't fail their first D-rank mission.

He was very proud.

He was a little less proud in their skills. After having the three battle his Shadow Clones, he called a halt after twenty-five minutes.

"Okay, here's my progress report. Haruno Sakura." Sakura panted from her spot in the grass. "You only have the basic Academy Style in taijutsu, and you should have your own style. Being a qualified shinobi gives you access to the Shinobi Archives, you know. I suggest you glance through that library for a style and I'll see what I can do to help you out. You should try a few genjutsu as well, and perhaps some chakra exercises before trying to get a repertoire of ninjutsu. Understand?" Sakura nodded, not looking up from the ground. "I know you're very intelligent, your scores in the Academy said so. I don't expect you to have any troubles adding to your knowledge in these fields. You are a genin. You're main mission for now is to grow."

"Yeah, Haruno-san. Don't sweat it. I'll even help you look!" Naruto said, looking relaxed and confident in his rock. He had tripped on the side of it and decided to make it his throne as retribution. Sakura looked less confident at his suggestion.

"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke grunted from his own seat on the other side of Naruto. He was shredding a blade of grass. "You're ninjutsu is above average for your age group, as is your taijutsu. You have certainly kept up with your family's techniques, but it is obvious that they are incomplete. I would ask that you let me see the scrolls you are studying so I can help you, but that is your decision. Your genjutsu is also lacking, as you haven't attempted to create one. Tell me now, is breaking a genjutsu the only thing you can do in the field?"

Sasuke and Sakura both nodded reluctantly. Naruto didn't look away from the sky.

"Naruto?"

"Hm? Oh. I can't create simple genjutsu, and the really elaborate ones I can do take longer than normal. But, most lesser level genjutsu don't even effect me and I suck at getting out of higher level ones. I have a way around it all, though."

Kakashi blinked. He decided to think about that later and backtrack for now.

"Right. Sasuke, I want you to look at other ninjutsu and taijustu and see what interests you for a wider variety of attacks. I know Uchiha do not normally add genjutsu to their abilities, so try to look into kenjutsu or even something more obscure. Become unpredictable and all that." Naruto snorted.

"Maybe you should be our medic nin." He chuckled. Sasuke wasn't sure if the blond was serious and Kakashi tried valiantly not to let his own humor show.

"And, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto gave him his full attention. "I honestly have no idea what to say to you. Your taijustu is unpredictable and sloppy, yet you managed to hit me more than I you. You're ninjutsu is rarely aimed towards me and instead to the surrounding terrain. I've noticed the aftereffects are always towards your advantage, so I don't know if you're a genius or incredibly lucky. I've tried trapping you in genjutsu and I've eventually noticed it always rebounds on me before I know what's happening. Your skill with your tessen is low grade, but perfected. Not only that, but you're the only genin of mine who is not visibly tired. What do you think I should tell you?"

"That I'm awesome and we should get a B-rank mission tomorrow to celebrate?" Kakashi wasn't amused. Really. That smile under his mask didn't exist.

"I'm thinking refine the movements of your taijustu, add more focused ninjutsu to your list, and maybe I should find you a tessen instructor."

"In my defense, Kakashi-sensei, if I started out of sight. I would have had you unconscious in one minute and I think that's all that matters." Kakashi gave him a patronizing eye smile.

"Then perhaps you should find a genjutsu to make yourself scarce." Naruto looked about ready to argue, but then took a contemplative expression.

'A genjustu to hide my actions with Tolerance? That's an idea I like.' Naruto thought to himself. He grinned, and Kakashi regretted the suggestion. He just didn't know why.

"Saa, regardless, tomorrow morning we'll all start the day with an hour and a half of exercise before heading to pick up a mission and seeing what sort of training you all decided to find. We'll use the rest of today to find those techniques that interest you. Come along, minions. We're going to the Shinobi Archives."

Kakashi vaguely wondered if this paternal feeling is what Minato-sensei felt about his own team seven. He figured it came mostly from the fact that his cute little genin were trailing behind him like little ducklings the way proper minions should. Mwahahaha!

xXx TBC… xXx

HK: I added a little humor at the beginning for this one. Kakashi was just tempting me to mess with him. You got to forgive him, though, he'd gotten excited last chapter after Naruto's stunt. Does it seem like I relaxed on Sasuke and Sakura? It's so easy to bash them...

Posted:28Feb11


	5. Open New Folder

Title: Technicalities

Rating: T

Character(s): Naruto Uzumaki

Summary: Ninja technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?

Disclaimer: I own no one but my OC. You'll know her when you see her.

Warnings: Bad try at humor here. Humor me, please. Oh yeah, my OC has a little monologue time at the end... It's just a little background information about her.

xXx Chapter Five: Open New Folder. xXx

Naruto grumbled in his head as the group made their way towards the Mission Room. Even Sasuke and Sakura looked disgruntled as they continued down the monotone routine that they had been doing for the past two months. Every day.

At first, all was well. The genin would all meet early to talk about random things, mostly quizzing Naruto on his information gathering abilities – "What color underwear is the Hokage wearing?" "Are you trying to scar me for life? ... purple and white..." – then Kakashi would arrive and they would do various exercises depending on the day.

They would run every day, no exceptions. Sakura and Sasuke both hated it and hated Naruto more for seemingly being used to a daily running schedule. Tari-chan had him run with her when he got tired of watching her do laps in the gym track.

Naruto liked running. He was very proud to say he could run swiftly, well enough to evade Anbu capture even. Pranks were so fun! Especially on the Anbu Headquarters. One day, he _will_ be a part of their forces! And then he'd probably have to confess to his eventual commander, but his or her expression should be priceless.

Team Seven's schedule, however, was still fairly easy. They would do their workouts, finish a mission before noon, then gather for a team training. Then Kakashi would give the three individual attention for the techniques they were trying to personalize before either doing another mission or going out for a team dinner. Then he'd assign homework and dismiss them.

Regardless, it was now old news and the three wanted something new and exciting. They've caught Tora-chan at least fifteen times already. They didn't want to babysit, weed gardens, fold laundry, bake Girl Scout cookies or anything civilian related.

"Hokage-jiji! Enough with the D-rank missions! Please, give us a higher mission!" Naruto begged as soon as he entered the room and saw the Hokage there. The old man chuckled. "This isn't a laughing matter, Hokage-jiji! We're going crazy! Look! Kakashi-sensei isn't reading his book!" The room blinked at the sudden realization that the man really wasn't.

Behind his mask, Kakashi smiled to himself. His team had been on such good behavior lately, he'd already put in a request. But, he'd let the three find out for themselves.

"I see, Naruto." Sarutobi smiled patronizingly. Iruka sighed and put his face in his palm. "Well, if you really think you're all ready to handle a higher mission, I suppose we can find something. Are you three ready?"

"Yes!" The three said together. Naruto continued. "There's only so many times I can tell everyone the color underwear you're wearing, Hokage-jiji." Everyone not a part of Team Seven sweat-dropped and looked either uncomfortable or disbelieving.

"I want to put my genjutsu into use more practically than having Kakashi-sensei think his book is on fire." Sakura added. Kakashi glowered at her.

"I can't keep holding back against my teammates with my techniques. I need a proper adversary I can go full out on to become better with my kenjutsu." Sasuke added. He felt slightly embarrassed when the other two hastily showed their sword nicks as proof.

"Well..." Sarutobi trailed off with an odd expression. He fixed his gaze on the three genin and looked slightly upset. "I'm sorry. Naruto, you've been reporting the color of my underwear?" Naruto was the most caught off guard in the room. He fixed his red shades as he cleared his throat.

"Er, yeah. Every other day or so they ask me as if I don't know. Except I know everything, and when I don't, I can find out in an hour or less."

"...and you know what I'm wearing today?" Naruto fidgeted only very slightly.

"Well, yeah. I haven't told them today though 'cause they didn't ask!" He finished quickly. The Hokage nodded solemnly.

"You should be proud you have said nothing. I'd hate to assign D-ranks to such a promising team for the next four weeks." The old man said. Naruto offered a quirky grin, the tips of his ears pointed pink. "Now, Team Seven, the mission I have for you today is in fact a C rank mission." The three genin gave a small cheer – "Yatta!" "Yes!" "Finally!" – and the scroll was opened. "Your sensei had in fact requested it the other day." Three pairs of eyes swiveled towards one half a pair of eyes. They were greeted by an eye smile and promptly looked away. "Now, this is an escort mission heading towards the Wave. Your client is in fact just outside this door." The Hokage pressed a button on his desk and his assistant outside replied. The door opened after a few seconds. Naruto gaped in recognition.

"Whoa! Tazuna! THE Master Bridge Builder Tazuna! Wow, you're so super cool! I feel so super lucky and honored to be at your service!" Naruto exploded.

As Tari-chan got deeper and deeper into the mess that was surrounding the Akatsuki, she found various other things about the corrupted side of the world. She felt the poverty situation in Wave was a good example to emphasize the lesson for Naruto. He wasn't up to date on the dealings of the country because of this, being that his information was half a year old, but he had researched a little of bridge building because he knew nothing about it. He declared it boring, but at least if he seemed interested and slightly knowledgeable, the well known drunkard would be less fussy.

The old man seemed slightly taken aback before grinning widely and giving a loud laugh.

"Haha! It's nice to see youngsters these days holding a proper respect for their idols!" Naruto laughed out loud, secretly laughing at the man's gullibility and Tazuna laughed right along with him. He chattered inanely as the man walked out, staying behind and shutting up as soon as the door was closed. Without him.

"Ano," Naruto looked at the Hokage and Iruka, contemplating on what he should say. Did they know about the extent of Wave's troubles? Did they know just how much the small country was struggling financially? Did they know that they were most likely being sent into an under-ranked mission, Gato being a business man on the other side of the field Tazuna was on?

"What is it, Naruto?" Iruka asked. Naruto smiled at them.

"Thank you." He walked out. This was probably the best way to really see where his team's training ranked in the world. For now. He slid back with his group, no one seeming to be any wiser.

He remained quiet until the group was dismissed and told to prepare to leave within the hour. Naruto quickly hunted Tari-chan down. He found her at Ichiraku's Ramen Stand.

"Tari-chan." He started as he calmly ordered a bowl of ramen. Who knew when his next bowl would be? The other woman looked at him with noodles in her mouth. She gave him a patronizing smile. He scowled.

"You already know what I'm going to say, huh?" She swallowed and cleared her throat.

"No, but I can guess. You're going on a mission that requires you to pack for long term travel, right?"

"Yeah. It's a C-rank." He admit as he reached for his bowl.

"You're sensei put in a request the other day." She said as she dug into her pocket. She pulled out a small sheet of paper folded into a 2x2 inch square. "I just perfected this too, so I'm hoping it'll be helpful." Naruto took it carefully. He looked at her questioningly, but she only smiled. No doubt the woman wanted him to guess.

It had a single black line drawn all around it in its folded stare, and just as he was about to open it, he realized the line was actually words. It was too close together to even guess the language, so he opened the paper. It opened to a fairly big 27x27 inch square. A seal was drawn inside. Not too familiar with seals, Naruto could only tell it seemed like a storage scroll seal, only not a scroll.

"Is it for storage?" He hazard.

"Yup! Scrolls are bulky, but this can be tiny. Flip it." Naruto did, and could see a star drawn vaguely with the writing disguised as a line. "That's like a protection seal. Only you can use this, and if you don't activate it in more than a month, it'll transport itself to another seal back in my place – just in case you lost it or it gets stolen. Cool, huh?"

"Yeah!" Naruto was slightly distracted by trying to actually read the star. The woman chuckled and slurped her broth.

"It's written in Melniks. I'll teach you when you get back unless you think you think you can learn it on your own during your mission."

"Thanks, Tari-chan." Naruto smiled. Tari smiled back before fixing his hair that was determined to poke out of his bandana. He laughed.

"No problem. So, where exactly are you going?" Naruto remembered why he wanted to talk to his friend before he left on his mission.

"What is the country of the Wave like these days?" Tari-chan hiccupped as she looked at him with a startled expression. Normally he'd laugh, since she never really choked on things and instead hiccupped with weird sounds, but not this time. He simply watched her expectantly.

"You're going to Wave?" He nodded. She glanced at the paper she gave him, open and laying on the counter like a placemat. He followed her gaze and absently started to fold it again. "With who?" Naruto looked around for other shinobi and promptly continued in English. He wasn't technically supposed to converse with civilians the details of his missions; except Tari-chan _was_ listed as a shinobi of Konoha. She was just placed in a hidden cupboard in the inactive duty file room.

"_My team was given a C rank escort mission with the bridge builder guy, Tazuna._" The older blond raised an eyebrow.

"_Wave actually has the ability to afford C rank missions? Tazuna has need of a C rank mission, for only _escorting_? He's a wanted man, whose state of well being is preferred as dead by Gato. This isn't a C rank mission. It's got to be an A rank at least!_" Naruto poked at his noodles as Ayame glanced at the two curiously. She was one of the few people who knew that Naruto was multilingual, and that Tari was the one who taught the boy. She wondered what the two were talking about, but figured that Naruto was asking for the older blonde's advice as he was wont to do.

"_What should I bring? What's been going on that I need to be aware of?_"

"_Bring a few pairs of warm clothes. It's the humid season, and that only means that there's more water vapor in the air and thus it's more wet and chilly because of the wind chill factor. And food. Bring enough to last awhile. In fact, fill that entire array with food. There's less and less going into the country every day. Even one extra mouth puts a considerable strain on an economy this fragile. Feel free to take it out of my fridge and pantry. I can always restock._" Tari hummed as she thought some more.

"_Clothes, food and the standard shinobi survival gear. Got it. What about tools? Do you think I'd be able to help with the bridge?_" Naruto asked as he prepared to drink his broth.

"_It's an idea. I know nothing of bridge building with wood, so I don't know what sort of tools. Do some quick research and raid my shed if you want. I don't ever use that old thing. Oh! And connect to the server when you can. The technology there from my time is more intact that here in Konoha. The only thing that could be wrong with anything is maybe rust, even though the metal used is fortified against rusting. Who knows what the years could do with such a wet environment._" Naruto grinned excitedly.

"I didn't think of that! That's going to be the first thing I do!" Tari laughed.

"Remember to enjoy your time there. It's your first real visit outside of Konoha, isn't it?" Naruto nodded excitedly. "Well, hurry and go get packed. You leave soon don't you?" Naruto finished his bowl quickly and gave his best friend a hug.

"Bye, Tari-chan! Thanks Ayame-chan, Teuchi-jiji!" And he disappeared to an alleyway. He had to get under the sewers quickly and find the fastest route to Tari-house. He only had twenty minutes!

Tari-chan fixed her own red sunglasses and simply remained sitting, relaxing and resting her cheek in her palm. Ayame took her bowl without a word and flitted behind the stall to the kitchens to wash the dishes. She knew the older woman had a tendency to sit and stare at nothing when wearing those glasses. She was waiting for the day when Naruto started doing the same. Most of the time she really liked the other woman. The other times simply confused or befuddled her. Like now. She'd rather not have those reflective glasses seemingly trained on her every move.

The button on the side of her glasses pressed, Tari waited and watched. Hatake Kakashi was in her sight, though he didn't know it. He was watching her, but wasn't able to hide as easily as she. Never mind that she was blatantly visible. She chuckled, wondering what he was thinking about. He shifted on the pole he was balanced on.

"Take care of him, Hatake-san. If not, you'll be taken care of _by_ him before you know it." She said before standing. Calling out to Ayame that her money was on the counter, plus a tip, she left and headed to the same alleyway that Naruto used.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and remained where he was. He didn't know that woman, but she looked uncannily similar to Naruto. And he wanted to know her intensions towards his student, considering they were awfully close and he had known the boy's real mother. And what was that language they were speaking in? And why were they speaking secretly? He slipped into the crowd of the street and walked towards the alleyway. There was a dead end. Naruto didn't know how to walk on walls, and the woman didn't seem like a shinobi... But those were assumptions, and there was always an underneath the underneath. Underneath... He glanced at the manhole to the sewers.

Ick.

"Later. I can figure it out later. I have a client to find and a mission to do." He was NOT going to explore the sewers if he could help it. If his cute little blond student arrived smelling like shit, he'd get a wealth of information without having to go down there. If not... then he will cease to care because he was not going down there while still owning his free will! Yuck!

He was on time at the gates, if only to see if his little minions would assume he would be late and thus try to be late themselves. Except they were all early and Naruto had changed his outfit again. His teammates didn't seem to notice him, as he was leaning near the duty shack and didn't seem to be packed.

He had on a cap, flipped backwards, and the hair poking out from the clap hole was dyed, or henged, a familiar shade of red; the same as his mother's. His glasses were tilted to rest at the top of his head, so his startling blue eyes were watching the world as opposed to how they had been since he graduated the Academy. His wrist bands were still the same, and so were his shoes and belt, but his clothes were lighter and more civilian. He could pass as a villager of the Wave with his baggy shorts and sleeveless shirt. He looked like a labor worker waiting for his boss (though a bit young), and Kakashi approved, but wondered why. They were on an escort mission, not an infiltration mission. He'd let Naruto learn though. Sometimes he tried to go above and beyond when it wasn't really necessary.

"So, everyone ready?"

"We're still waiting for Naruto, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said. Naruto cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Yes?" Sakura asked politely, obviously wondering why this strange civilian wanted to talk to them. Naruto raised an eyebrow and Sasuke was the first to realize.

"Che, dobe. Where's your gear?" Naruto grinned.

"I got it, don't worry." Kakashi thought about that seal array the woman gave his little blond student, and decided to accept it.

"Well, where is it? Are you henging it, or using a genjutsu? You're going to waste all your chakra, Naruto." Sakura disapproved.

"I'm not using chakra to hide anything, Haruno-san." Naruto said, as if offended he'd do such a thing. "I'm just trying to make it less obvious that I'm a shinobi." He looked ready to say more, but glanced at Tazuna and closed his mouth.

Kakashi gave Tazuna a side glance.

The man was startled by the admission, and seemed to relax a little because of it. Kakashi couldn't figure out why. Yes, the man was a well known bridge builder, but he wasn't that well known or important. If they were going to protect the man from bandits, part of that protection came as a deterrent just by being near obvious shinobi. Why would he relax if one of his protectors just lost that deterring factor?

Naruto knew something, and he wasn't telling why. He'd have to ask later, when they set up camp for the night.

So the group set off.

X

Naruto put on his glasses as they walked the trail at a civilian pace. He double-tapped the bend and hummed to himself. He figured it would be a great time to try to use his glasses the way Tari-chan did. She said it took mental strength to control the glasses, but she never explained how and his research on them pulled up nothing useful. She had just recently showed him the button that turned them on. It wasn't even a button, just a sensor to tap a finger on twice. The lenses flickered as they seemed to brighten, but that was it.

He thought of Tazuna and the glasses shifted. It almost made him fall to the side, as if his center of gravity was in his hand rather than his core.

"Naruto?"

"I'm good. Just stepped wrong. Sorry."

His glasses were showing two different images, and he thought that was so cool! It showed him what he was really seeing, and even a double vision of what he could be seeing if he was watching from the clouds. So cool! He figured the lenses connected to the satellites the way almost everything did. He wondered if the glasses could look in X-ray vision, or even heat vision.

The double image changed again, a little slower than he thought, and Naruto could see his group as bright white blobs with some grey and the ground nearly black. Then he saw a puddle of water that should have been all black, but had two white bodies of warmth.

He wondered if his glasses could also pick up chakra levels. He was about thirty yards from the puddle.

The glasses shifted and different lights engulfed each body. Tazuna was a pale blue, Sakura a light green and Sasuke a light green, Kakashi was a startling white, and Naruto was a pink, to his annoyance. He figured it had something to do with his yet-to-mature chakra being influenced by the Kyuubi's corrosive chakra, but pink? That was a blow to his growing manhoodedness!

There were two dark blue bodies of chakra in the puddle of water. And the numbers running next to them indicated that they belonged to two men, brothers, and at least chuunin level.

Naruto gently weaved a genjustu, not wanting to make anyone, especially his sensei, suspicious of what he was going to do. Everyone walked on, quiet and comfortable and not really wanting to do more than watch the scenery. They idly noted that Naruto had started humming to himself, except Naruto was really initiating a program on his Tolerance. He even activated Revenge to help with the smaller details like monitoring. He had just finished when the attack happened.

The puddle of water suddenly exploded and Kakashi had been easily decimated.

Naruto stared, his heart stuttering painfully in fear in his hiding place in the trees. His sensei wasn't supposed to die! He was a jounin! He had been in Anbu! Chuunin weren't supposed to take him down that easily! Except his glasses were still showing his bright white chakra, in the trees across from Naruto. The bits of gore and body parts were a henge... Naruto pulled his fingers out of the groves he made in the branches. He was going to have to get back at his sensei, or at least ask if there was a sort of sign that could be shown before pulling such a stunt.

'Paybacks a bitch, Kakashi-sensei.' Naruto frowned vindictively as he decided to learn from his sensei. The two attackers, shinobi from Wave, rushed towards the rest of the group and slashed at the clone Naruto left. The clone fell back and died in a cry of pain, having been sliced in half from the torso. Sakura screamed shrilly and Sasuke called his name in fear. Naruto felt a little bad, but he saw Kakashi shushin next to him, still hidden in the trees but obviously intent on checking on him in vain. Naruto tapped the man's shoulder, cringing by reflex when he was almost punched in retaliation.

"Naruto." Kakashi's tone was flat, but he was obviously surprised. The jounin glanced at the dying body, and was able to notice the tinge of chakra surrounding the area. The attacking chuunin were frustrated, as their aim was always off, and Sasuke was able to fight them off, allowing Sakura time to gather her wits and help him. "Genjutsu." The man concluded with obvious relief. Naruto grinned.

"Just a little fun." Kakashi didn't seem as amused. Naruto pouted and sighed. "Fine. I'm done anyway. Revenge, _execute prior command_." Naruto said in Romanian. His wrist glowed dimly, and Naruto was confident that his sensei didn't notice. The two chuunin screamed and darted away from the small remaining group as if shocked, and promptly collapsed.

"What did you do, Naruto?" Kakashi asked after a moment of stillness.

"Just a little revenge for killing you and me." Naruto said as he jumped out of the tree. Kakashi wasn't sure anymore the kind of boy Naruto was. He was still interesting, and Kakashi was definitely intrigued, but it was so different than the stories he'd been told.

"Naruto! You're okay!" Naruto gave Sakura a thumbs up and was wary when Sasuke and Sakura both gave him a hug of relief. Kakashi chuckled to himself, but then was put into the same treatment when his other students noticed him as well. He patted the two shaky children and fixed Tazuna with a stare. The man had collapsed in relief.

"Good job, Sakura, Sasuke. You did very well to hold those two off. Naruto, you did well also for keep the enemy distracted." Sasuke glanced at the bloody body still dying at the side of the road. Naruto's dying doppelganger disappeared in a static-y blink.

"But, Naruto didn't do anything." Sakura pointed out confused. She didn't doubt that Naruto could, or that her sensei was telling the truth – she wasn't blind or deaf to the things the boy has done and said since becoming a part of his team - but she didn't notice anything.

"He held everyone in a genjutsu, allowing the Demon Brothers to miss when they normally wouldn't, and you to hit, when they would normally dodge. We were all in it, even, and I hadn't noticed a thing." Kakashi praised, though he was just a little peeved to admit that he hadn't noticed.

"Why didn't you help right away! Why let the children handle it!" Tazuna complained, more than a little shaken up.

"I wanted to see what they were after." Kakashi replied easily, fixing Tazuna with his entire attention. "Were they attacking simply because we are from another village? Or were they attacking our client for a certain reason I can't fathom?" Tazuna nervously tried to fix himself and stand up. He glanced at Naruto and suddenly held a strange expression so Kakashi turned to see the boy raising his hand quietly.

"Are you seriously raising your hand to speak?" Sakura asked. Naruto nodded happily.

"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi wondered if he should begin trying to get angry at the boy.

"They were after Tazuna." He stated. He seemed to let the statement hang, and Kakashi knew then that the boy had been expecting this to happen.

"What do you know, Naruto?" The phrase was starting to become well known.

"Gato is after him." Tazuna flinched violently at the name, but Naruto continued with a seriousness reserved for a life and death situation. "He doesn't want Tazuna to finish the bridge currently under construction because Gato is a gang lord and currently holds the entire country in his greedy hands. This one bridge is intended to be the main link between the small country island and the mainland and thus the future economy rests on this project. Wave can't afford anything more than what they requested. Their money is being siphoned into Gato's account rather than back to the country. These last business deals and charity offers are the remaining steps Tazuna had in finishing the bridge. Thus, if Gato can kill him, the bridge will never be complete and the country wouldn't have the means left to try anything else." The other three shinobi looked at Tazuna and Naruto both. The man was looking at Naruto like he was a miracle and a blessing both.

"But, why kill Tazuna? Why not just destroy the bridge if it's so important?" Sasuke asked, not able to see the logic that made Tazuna the target specifically.

"Tazuna is a _Master_ Bridgebuilder." Naruto grinned. "His bridges aren't easy to break and destroy. They're amazing!" Tazuna blushed a little.

"We are a jounin and student genin, Naruto. We have been given a C rank mission in disguise as a high B rank mission at least."

"Well, technically, it'd be a high A-rank. This is political and national afflicting, after all." Kakashi conceded the point with a nod, though he did wonder how Naruto knew about the key factors determining the ranking of a mission. He hadn't learned about them until he joined Anbu, and it was still by accident.

"Regardless, do you understand the dangers we are going to face compared to the limited experience we have out of the village."

"I learn best by the sink or swim method, and I'm more buoyant than others." Kakashi rolled his eyes at his strange student but accepted his answer. He looked at the other two.

"I wouldn't feel right if we didn't try to help, Kakashi-sensei."

"We can take them. We can do this." Sasuke added confidently.

"Well, it seems we're at a tie. After all, three genin is only worth the vote of one jounin, and I'm certainly against this entire thing. Now it all rests on you, Tazuna-san. What is stronger? Your need for us, or your morals?" Tazuna looked surprised he even had a say in this. He watched as Naruto rolled his eyes at his sensei's last persuasive argument. He gave a bow to the ninja before him.

"I ask that you please help me and my country." Naruto grinned as Kakashi nodded his acceptance easily. He didn't think Kakashi was the type to ignore a mission anyway, no matter how badly ranked. He glanced at the two unconscious chuunin still under Revenge's pulsing influence. They were being jolted by their own body's nerve channels. Their chakra matrix was also being redirected and thus impossible to control. They were unconscious, but in pain and unable to do anything about it.

Kakashi sent a quick message to Konoha, hoping their ambushers (victims? Did they really stand a chance?) were picked up before they wake up. Naruto looked at them worriedly as they prepared to walk away.

"Ano, sensei? Maybe you should secure them more. If I walk away more than ten yards, my technique would begin weakening rapidly." Kakashi made a note of that particular limitation and did as suggested.

Sasuke watched quietly and Sakura spoke with Tazuna, listening for the conversation her odd teammate was having with their sensei. They glanced at each other, wondering just how far ahead their teammate was, and how far behind they were. It was obvious that Naruto knew things, it was his specialty after all, but there had been things that the blond would say, and Kakashi-sensei would look at him as if he was surprised Naruto knew about it.

x

That night, as the group relaxed in their camp just a few yards from the trail, Naruto relaxed on the dirt. The fire was bright and warm and no one was hungry enough for dinner yet, so there was only light conversation between Tazuna and Sakura. Sasuke would be dragged into it every once in a while, only because Tazuna would say every once in a while that Sasuke reminded him of his grandson, Inari. After the sixth time, Sasuke scooted closer to Naruto and gave him a rueful glare.

"Where is your gear, dobe? You're not expecting to sleep in the dirt, are you?" Naruto smiled, not moving.

"Maybe not the dirt, but the trees are pretty comfy. I don't think the trees in Wave will be as thick and accommodating, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can." Sasuke gave him an odd annoyed look.

"You sleep in trees?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Naruto..." Sasuke glared threateningly.

Kakashi watched quietly, wondering about his little blond student. He was a bit eccentric. Not Maito Gai eccentric, thank goodness, but eccentric all the same. He wondered if the boy did it on purpose. Sometimes the blond would smile and it would be a rather teasing smile that made him wonder.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei. You can climb trees, right?" Kakashi missed the part of the boy's conversation that brought this up. He vaguely felt as if Naruto was going to give him a surprise. He still wasn't sure what he thought of the things Naruto surprised him with. He responded cautiously.

"Yes, of course I can."

"Without your hands?" Sasuke challenged. Kakashi's brain paused for a moment.

Could Naruto tree walk already!

"It's a chakra exercise." Kakashi replied as he stared at his littlest genin. "Each village has their specialized chakra exercises to take advantage of the terrain or weather of their country. Konoha has tree walking, water walking and leaf dancing."

"Suna has sand walking, heat synthesis and maybe chakra strings. Some people don't really consider that a chakra exercise so much as a Suna specialty." Naruto added. "Mizu has water walking, water sounding and the really high level guys can control the water of living things."

"Naruto, how do you know all this?" Sakura asked. Again.

"After Iruka-sensei started me on leaf dancing, I looked for more stuff. I can kinda do it, but I still have shitty control over quick genjutsu and can't do the medical jutsu at all. I suck at healing stuff and just end up burning things."

"Umino-san started you on leaf dancing?" Kakashi was surprised.

"Well, it was actually a detention for disrupting class, and Kiba-san, Shikamaru-san, and Chouji-san all had to do it too, but yeah! He did tell us the basic gist of it by having us concentrate a leaf on our foreheads. That's when I started looking into chakra exercises."

The group all traded looks. Naruto just fried their brains again. Kakashi decided a good long Q & A with Umino-san was going to be the first thing he did when he was finished with this mission.

"So anyway, yes it is possible!" Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sasuke, who flinched at the sudden raspberry.

"Idiot."

"I call first watch!" Everyone ignored Naruto's sudden change of topic.

X

Iruka walked from the mission office to his house, done with his day of working. On his way, with the sun setting and the light disappearing, he hardly saw and civilians. A flash of gold made him turn his attention towards his right and he scowled at the woman walking at his side as if she had been there all the while.

"Ume-san."

"Umino-san." She smiled back, shifting her own bag on her shoulder as if to salute. Her dark grey-blue eyes glittered at his obvious displeasure.

"How did you do it?" He asked quietly.

"Do what? I'm afraid I have no point of topic to follow you with." She looked at him with oblivious curiosity. Iruka saw through it though. He knew she was practically a she-demon. A witch! She cursed him, he knew it! He just couldn't figure out a way to let anyone know.

"Every time I try to talk about you, my mouth spouts off in another direction. What did you do to me!" He demanded as loud as he was able. Which wasn't very loud.

"I'm positive I have no idea what you are talking about. Though, it could be you do not know me well enough to explain me. After all, only a select few know about me." She replied almost coyly, running her fingers through her hair slowly as if playful. Iruka stopped walking and fixed her with a warning glare. He had been wondering about her identity since he was invited to her home for a celebration for his favorite student since he started teaching at the academy. Her home was, after all, underground. That much he could tell even blind. All of his searching pulled nothing, however. Whether he looked through the Shinobi Roster or the Civilian Residence List, or even the Bingo Books dating back the last five years, Ume Tarisha did not exist.

"I'm sure you do. Spy." He hissed. Tari's playful expression immediately shifted to a more serious and offended look.

"Spy? Excuse me?" Iruka didn't back down.

"I'll be keeping tabs on you, woman. One step out of line, and I will fight you, being Naruto's friend or no. I will not let you endanger Konohgakure."

"Hmm," She leveled her glare to a more calculating look, and Iruka slowly started to back away, deeming their conversation over. He didn't dare turn his back though. Tari shifted her bag to her other shoulder with a huff. "Is this about my obvious lack of public residency or my complete nonexistence as a person?"

"Both." Iruka bit out, fingers itching to snag one of his kunai. His body wouldn't let him though, as per the curse he was under. Tari hmmed again and seemed to relax. Iruka wasn't fooled.

"I see. Please walk me home, Iruka-kun."

"As you wish, Tari-san." His body complied quietly while he raged in his mind. That Demon! She had taken his free will from him completely! And on top it that, she dared to imply they were close friends! He never gave her permission to speak to him with –kun in his name!

They passed through the streets, occasionally calling out greetings to people to greeted them, but otherwise said nothing. Not that Iruka could in his case. Finally, they walked towards an empty street and Iruka gaped as Tari disappeared through the ground as if walking down stairs. His body followed, oblivious to the hesitancy in his thoughts and the slowly growing fear for his safety.

Tari gestured for him to sit at her rather large dining room table and he did, as cautious as he was able. He carefully maneuvered his body and as he realized he was in full control again, Tari walked up to him and placed a small plate of colorful bread rolls with various toppings. She sat next to him and slid a folder to him as she swiped a piece from the snack plate.

"What is this?" He asked as he started to read through it.

"My personal information." She said as she briefly covered her chewing mouth.

Iruka scanned the paper. It held the normal information of a person. Name, Age, Body statistics and parents. However…

"What about education, occupation, or past residency or-"

"Yes yes, or anything else. I know. That's where it gets tricky. Education? Far above yours yet so mortifying behind I have no idea what to say. Do you know about quantum science and the history of how the world used to be thousands of years ago? Well I still don't get the purpose of why certain metals conduct chakra or even how chakra can weigh more than water. Heck, I don't even know what makes wooden houses stay standing or how to work an oar for a boat. Occupation? Even trickier. I could be a ninja who can rumble with all the Kage's at once or just a simple nurse or even a teacher. I'm not used to saying I do just one thing. I used to do multiple things as a means to support myself before I found myself in Konoha about six years ago." She lowered her eyes to the table cloth. Iruka noticed it was glowing as she traced her fingertip over it.

"You 'found' yourself in Konoha?"

"Yup, and no one filed a missing person report about it." Iruka tried to think. She was being to forward to be a real threat, and if she were a spy she would probably have killed him rather than try to explain her situation, lie or not.

"Where were you before?"

"The past." Iruka stared. Tari looked back at him. "Umino-san, I was born more than two-thousand years ago, in a world you cannot even begin to imagine. I have been to the planets in space and the colonies there as well as in the deepest parts of the ocean. My existence is hard for you to comprehend, I know. Though, as Naruto often liked to say, you could explain my world just by wandering through an Odd Hole." She smiled. Iruka quirked an eyebrow.

"It's a bit unusual to wander through Odd Holes." Though, the idiom did help put the eccentric woman, and the blond boy she seemed to take care of, into a more reasonable light. The Odd Hole, while sometimes useful if they could find more than a hundred of whatever they could figure out, was more often than not, odd. Sometimes even dangerous. To have come from a place that created the Odd Holes, there was a lot of speculation and stories...

Iruka had heard the rumors of Wave having an Odd Hole infamous for holding monsters that can't be killed, as opposed to useful or interesting appliances. The area had a booming voice directing the monsters in a language no one knew, and music being played hauntingly without a source. The only positive point was the monsters remained inside the Odd Hole.

Odd Holes were never the same. If Tari came from the place that made them, no doubt her time somehow combined all Odd Holes.

"I suppose it could be a little unusual to most." Tari said smoothly, licking her fingers of her snack.

"If you are an, immigrant," He said the word slowly, unsure if it was the right term. "then why not simply register with Konoha?"

"I want to go home, Iruka." Tari said. She sighed and leaned her chin on her hands. "I came here _somehow_. I plan to figure out how to go home sometime before I turn 100."

"100?"

"Oh yeah. Longevity has been in my genes for generations. My great great great great great grandfather lived to be 713 before he died in a hyperchamber malfunction. My other grandparents are still alive, but he was the oldest in our family so far. My oldest living grandparent is only 654. She's a little crazy though. She likes to mountain dive into the ocean."

Iruka wondered if insanity was also a trait born into Tarisha Ome. It seemed possible, considering the woman had her own odd quirks he couldn't imagine were simply habits bred in a time he wasn't a part of.

"So! Back to the reason I wanted to talk to you!" Iruka supposed the woman had a reason to want to come up to him in the first place. He just wanted to go home at the moment though. "Are you free for Naruto's birthday?"

Despite himself, Iruka smiled. He supposed Tari couldn't be too bad if she genuinely cared for Naruto.

xXx TBC… xXx

HK: Okay, there's chapter five! I'm so sorry for the late update. I tried to upload this thing a while ago, but I got distracted and must have turned off my laptop or something. I guess I just believed I'd already sent the chapter in. I wasn't really expecting reviews for the story, so when I got only a few more for chapter four and not five, I just assumed one cared for chapter five… I'm sorry if you've been waiting for it! If you really liked it though, by all means let me know. I'll try to dedicate a chapter to whoever seems to like this the most.

On a side note... If I were to be a ninja I would have failed my teamwork test **horribly**.

I have been put through the trial not with a group of three, but a group of thirty-one. Instead of having two bells to fight over, we were divided into groups of four colors and given various 'secret missions' The top priority was always to 'not get out' when hit by a colored noodle, and all side missions were different such as 'you are at war with green' or 'you are allies with blue'. I had been pulled aside, as well as one from each other color, and was told 'you must all survive' as well as the do not get out command. The instant idea thrown out there between the four of us survivors was an immediate murder of our color-teammates. (Which didn't work out by the way. I started as soon as the word start was said, and no one else did. The other teams had immediately become defensive to their own designated survivors and an all out melee occurred anyway. It was war...)

After five rounds of not getting it, we all finally threw our colored noodle floaties down and managed to accomplish the main mission of staying in... I smacked my head and remembered _Naruto_. I almost felt like a horrible person. I say almost because it really was a lot of fun. There had been three promises to the class for that day. We will be handcuffed, blindfolded, and beaten. With Noodles. Obviously, this was only the beaten with noodles exercise. Yay college credits for Leadership!

Anyway, review if you want another chapter! Thanks everyone!

Posted: 23Apr11


	6. Ctrl A Ctrl X Ctrl V

Title: Technicalities

Rating: T

Character(s): Naruto Uzumaki

Summary: Ninja technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?

Disclaimer: I own no one but my OC. You'll know her when you see her.

Warnings: It's a bit of a rant/flashback/cram chapter. It turned out kinda not what I was hoping for... Plus, the part I really wanted to get to didn't quite make it. So, I left a bit of a cliffhanger. Sorry. Oh, and somewhere in the story the POV kind of shifted. It didn't really change, just shift... Ugh.

xXx Chapter Six: Ctrl+A Ctrl+X Ctrl+V xXx

"Shut up! Just, just – _fuck you, you asshole!_" Naruto slammed the door as he charged out of the house. He ignored the shout of his teammates. He pretended he didn't hear his sensei. He pushed away the guilt and chagrin for possibly destroying the door of his employer and host. He threw away the promise he made to himself to not let himself feel shame or disappointment about his announcement...

"This is complete bullshit." Naruto complained quietly and without heat. He coughed at the suddenly itchy feeling in his throat and wiped his eyes as they misted over. Catching sight of the fishing village, he slowed his fast stomping to quiet baby steps. Taking a moment more to compose himself, Naruto took a breath and flipped his cap to shadow his face. The red tinted glasses, which had been resting on top of the plain cap since he left Konoha, were placed over his eyes for added discretion.

x

Twenty minutes of entering Tazuna's home country, a Jounin level nukenin had ambushed the escorting party. He was introduced by Kakashi-sensei as Zabuza, and Naruto had a feeling the bounty on his head was worth a lot.

The following scuffle was, quite frankly, a disaster.

Kakashi revealed his Sharingan eye very early in the fight. Naruto had wondered then if the man hadn't practiced with the implant in a while, or had done so in a rigorous training session he hadn't yet recovered from. He had an advantage with it, but in the fight, Naruto didn't think it was worth it.

Bored and unable to really feel threatened yet, Naruto found his attention wandering. And he very quickly spotted the one thing he was looking forward to the most in his trip to Wave.

There was a computer servicing building (crumbled and near unrecognizable from age and weathering) right in front of him (and behind the fight).

He Kage Bushin'ed himself a scout and when that clone dispersed, he left his spot before remembering to make another clone to take his spot. Oh well, no one was going to notice anyway. And no one did, until he cheered when his Flip Book was accepted by the once-store's in-port docking connection drive.

"_Dammit Naruto."_

"_What's this, Hatake? A slow student?" Zabuza chucled lowly. Naruto's voice was echoing in the trees as he celebrated his discovery with a cheer. "Slow students are dead ones!" Instead of becoming worried, as Zabuza had been hoping for as he was honing in on the suicidal Genin, Hatake slumped a little in embarrassment with a sigh._

"_More like an insane genius." Kakashi admit freely with a defeated look in his stance. Zabuza noted the annoyed and exasperated looks from the other two newbies, and how his target was trying to look relieved, but was more confused than anything. The focus of the situation was no longer on the Demon of the Mist. It was on a child Zabuza knew nothing about._

At that, cued from a sudden flood of water dragon jutsu, Naruto disappeared and started playing as revenge. Connected to the server, which he realized was actually the lands between Wave and Fire, not Wave like he had first thought, Naruto was able to use his glasses in a way he didn't think he'd be able to without an upgrade. His glasses were synched to his Flip Book, and since Tolerance was hooked to a server (something Konoha seemed to be lacking now that he thought of it), his glasses were thus super-powered!

All of Zabuza's statistics could be revealed with a though. Some things took longer (like how many A rank missions he'd done) but Naruto figured he just had to 'explain' with a focused thought what he was trying to find out. After all, his glasses and the server they were synced to were last used in an era missing shinobi lingo.

So Zabuza could run as fast as 63.4 mph on average? Who cared? Naruto could teleport. In another place of the woods, Naruto connected to a functioning speaker to 'prove his point' as well as to get the enraged missing ninja away from him.

Zabuza could survive for three weeks without food? Naruto gleefully congratulated him for destroying more than half of his strength and more than a quarter of his mental capacities. Great job for surviving, good luck on your next battle.

Zabuza actually freaked out and started yelling out defensively. Naruto guessed that statistic was only shown to him because it had happened. He supposed Zabuza had a reason to be creeped out.

Then Kakashi got with the program and started taking his own advantage to Zabuza's lack of attention and focus. Naruto noticed with his glasses that Kakashi's chakra levels were rapidly declining. The Sharingan he had was wasting more chakra than it used, and soon both Jounin were exhausted after throwing high level jutsu at each other.

Then Naruto's glasses alerted him to another figure in the trees. He quickly hid himself from that person as well.

When the two Jounin held each other in a standoff, all Naruto could do was yell a startled 'Hey!' when the other person threw a senbon at Zabuza and caused Kakashi to tumble over the other man when he suddenly collapsed. Naruto put away Tolerance and appeared just as quickly as the other teenager before arguing with him. At Naruto's unrelenting demands for an explanation, the other teen was quickly flustered and couldn't get a word out anyway.

Before Kakashi could stand up, the white masked shinobi threw a quick excuse about being a hunter nin before disappearing with Zabuza. Naruto yelled after them.

"_You liar! I have your scent! I'll be hunting you down you cheater!" His voice echoed morbidly before Naruto ruined his image by pouting._

"_Naruto, volume please." Kakashi groaned from the ground._

"_Sorry."_

"_What do you mean by liar, anyway?" Sakura asked._

"_That wasn't a hunter ninja. Real hunters dispose of their targets where they died, no matter who else is around." The group was quiet as that information sunk in. Kakashi sluggishly tugged his hitaiate over his Sharingan eye and both he and Naruto sighed. "Okay Kakashi-sensei, you can relax. I'll make sure everyone makes it safely to Tazuna's house. _

"_Nothing against you, Naruto, but I'd rather not chance anything." Kakashi said as he struggled to stand and ignore the dark spots in his vision. He would have fallen on his face for his efforts if his three cute little Genin didn't pile close to catch him._

"_Damn you're heavy, sensei." Naruto swore. Kakashi didn't say anything. He was already unconscious._

"_Lead the way, please, Tazuna-san." Sakura grunted as she tried to work with the other two boys to position Kakashi in a better position to carry the tall man. _

After a day of rest, Kakashi was well enough to talk his team through a plan of action. He was going to train them harder, become more critical in their techniques and harsher in their conditioning. He started drilling them in scenarios and possible situations. He started educating them on tactics and pointers they could use for themselves. He quoted a lot of what he taught them with 'what I learned in war' and it made the three children realize what they were preparing for. Against Zabuza, who they all knew was still alive, they could die.

Well, the other two Genin could. Naruto was more prepared than they were, and it was becoming more obvious every day. Naruto knew his strengths, and he knew what Kakashi was trying to introduce them to. He never claimed to be an expert, but Kakashi used him often as an example or assistant in demonstrations.

Naruto should have known his teammates would get jelous or something. They were only kids. After nearly five days, though, Sasuke finally snapped.

"_Yeah, so I know things. So what? You know this already. Information is my specialty." Naruto frowned cautiously as he took another bite of food. Sasuke scowled and clenched his fists over his chopsticks. _

"_You know things you shouldn't know! Shinobi or not, you're just a Genin! You're not a genius or a prodigy! You're just a loser who can barely pass the Academy Exam after how many tries! Three, was it?" Naruto carefully kept his expression neutral to Sasuke's taunting sneer. His failing the Academy as often as he had was a sore spot for him. "You're grades this year had been the worst yet, I hear! How do you know so much when you suck at the most basic of things!"_

_Sakura squirmed in her seat and tried to eat quietly. It was a lot harder than normal to ignore her two teammates as they argued though. The atmosphere with a yelling Sasuke and a calm Naruto, as well as the topic of conversation, made it impossible to focus on her food. She heard the slow thunk of Kakashi's crutch moving upstairs, and quickly used that excuse to leave the table to help her sensei. _

"_You know, there's a reason my grades sucked this year. You wouldn't happen to know my grades last year, would you? Or the year before that?" Naruto asked hypothetically. Tazuna and his family weren't as fortunate to have an excuse to leave the argument or send it away. They sat uncomfortably at the table as they tried to pretend there wasn't an argument going on._

Last year, Naruto remained perfectly average in his class. His teachers consisted of one man who hated his guts, and a woman who was fair to him. He failed because he couldn't do the Bushin correctly yet (after a little more than a year of trying), and the man had 'lost' his written test. It was the first and only deliberate action he had taken against Naruto, and so Naruto hadn't seen it coming.

The year before, Naruto had two teachers who openly hated him, but never did anything to sabotage him. Naruto was near the top of his class that year. He just couldn't do Genjutsu at the time (his control and sensory was deplorable) so when it was required that he create one and dispel a foreign one, he had failed.

His wrist had been sprained in a badly caught tumble the year before that, so he failed the weapons section as well as the written for 'ineligibility' and he couldn't do anything with his chakra other than summon it and make hand signs.

He wasn't even going to think of the years before he made it to the final classes. He had no problem proving his potential to get into class. It was the teachers and the test part Naruto struggled with the hardest.

"_Those years don't matter anyway. You're still a failure. I know you failed this year too! How did you even _get_ a forehead protector! I bet you cheated your way into this team!"_

"_I don't see you being a very good teammate, Uchiha." Naruto said coldly. He didn't appreciate the accusations thrown at him at all. He didn't look away from his glaring contest with the boy, even when he knew Kakashi had arrived with Sakura standing timidly nearby. _

"_I don't think you're a good teammate either, Uzumaki." Naruto snorted._

"_By all means, bastard, tell me how you really feel." He said with as much sarcasm as he could afford. Sasuke growled._

"_You don't care about us. You spy on us and hold our secrets over our heads without regard to what we feel about it. You never train or hang out with us after meeting days, but I've seen you with other teams and groups. What, too good for us, Uzumaki? Are you talking about us to everyone in the corps?" Sakura gasped, suddenly red as her imagination obviously took over. Naruto's hand finally snapped his chopsticks._

"_Hey! I'm a better person than that! I don't see you being a social butterfly either, so don't go around making me out as the bad guy! You're the one who ignores Haruno-san and Kakashi-sensei's attempts to spend bonding time together! I at least accept if they off to me! So sue me for spending time with friends outside of your clique! After being brushed off the first five times each, I got the hint and stopped bothering to initiate anything with this team! I spend time with people who want me around, not that it matters to who whether I'm allowed to!" _

Kakashi and Sakura had flinched at the accusatory glances thrown their way by the Wave family. After Naruto spent a day in Inari's room, gently trying to get the boy's side of the story about why he didn't think Team Seven was going to live, he counseled the boy about grief and mourning and the strength of belief. Naruto had thrown a little about his own problems into the air to get the boy to open up, and Tsunami was surprised by the sudden change in her son. Having eavesdropped on Naruto's stories, she was grateful and saddened. She was even more so, humbled as well, when Naruto showed her the groceries he brought with him for everyone. The family appreciated Naruto, and seeing how much his own team didn't really upset them.

"_Didn't you used to be in the years ahead of us?" Sasuke asked, ignoring the words Naruto said. Naruto crossed his arms and glared._

"_What of it?"_

"_I remember hearing a rumor back then." Naruto glared. There were many rumors about him, none of them necessarily polite and most of them wrong. "Yeah, something about how you wanted to be Hokage." Naruto snorted in disregard. Him, Hokage? Pft. But, he knew exactly where the other boy was coming from and what he was trying to do. It wasn't going to work._

"_Like I want to be in charge of every ungrateful son of a bitch in the most wonderful and prosperous and envied ninja village of all elemental nations! You must be hard of hearing, Uchiha!" Naruto spat. He was fed up with the other's petty anger. "I can admit to being vocal in my determination to know exactly how my future career functioned as a whole and everything that could pertain to it. It was a side project I was working on outside of school; one that will start being included in the damn Academy in three years if you're curious! I hate a lot about Konoha, Uchiha! I can freely admit to that and I don't care what anyone thinks about it! I hate our village because of what we do, what we don't do, and what we say we do, and what everyone thinks we do! We're so blind to everything, and your ignorance only proves my point!" _

_Kakashi was very pale, immediately thinking of everything Naruto could be implying. His thoughts ran to his sensei, the man's seal, Naruto's fate, and the tenant no one was supposed to know about yet did. He thought about the three years of Naruto's life where no one knew where he was. There was a lot of speculation when the boy reappeared, about what happened to him, what he lived through and what he could have seen that allowed him to live for so long alone and stay sane..._

"_Naruto, I think that's enough." Naruto cut the man off before he was finished._

"_You want to know our life span now that we're a part of the illustrious corps of our country's pride?" Naruto snarled. Kakashi himself was a little curious. Those statistics were the most guarded of any ninja village. "Twenty-nine and a quarter years, Uchiha! You're either lucky, genius, or a strong believer of human sacrifices if you live past that, and no one has ever done anything to better prepare potential shinobi for this reality! You can cram information into the heads of little kids and tell them stories hardcore enough to give them nightmares, but how is that going to open their eyes to the shit they signed up for! I'm not aiming for Hokage! I'm making a bigger impact than that! And I know I'm going to make enemies in my life, so I know what branch I'm aiming for to stay strong, anonymous and alive! I know my goals! Don't you dare pretend like you know them to, because that's just going to piss me off!"_

Sasuke started yelling louder, much less coherent. Naruto could admit he probably should have responded differently, but he was pissed off. He hadn't had time to wind down since arriving in Wave, he could hardly afford to be by himself so he hadn't gotten a chance to look into what he really wanted to while in Wave. He knew he wasn't supposed to mix his personal goals and pursuits to a mission, but he did and he was greatly disappointed. He hadn't connected to the local server _in_ Wave since connecting to the one outside of it. He was cranky, annoyed, and Sasuke chose the wrong night to start accusing him of something vaguely similar to cheating. As if being a ninja didn't include such a thing.

That was the only reasonNaruto could think of for screaming the last thing that really had anything to do with anything.

"_Just shut the fuck up you asshole! You don't know me and I don't care what I know about you! Dammit, you insensitive prick I can't believe I ever liked you!" and just like that, all the yelling in the house went mute. Naruto was pissed, even more so now that everyone seemed to catch exactly what he meant – being the _like _like as opposed to camaraderie likeness."_

"_You what?" Sasuke asked, looking mortified. And that was exactly what Naruto didn't want to see. He may not have liked the other boy the way he used to, which was borderline fanatical and maybe a little stalker-ish (Naruto blamed it on the fact that he knew it was his first crush), but he did still admire him. One of the last things he wanted from Sasuke was a rejection of any kind, be it love, friendship or just acknowledgement. _

"_You _like_ Sasuke-kun?" Sakura echoed like a whisper._

"_None of your business!" Naruto had shouted defensively. Everyone started talking then. His teammates tried to get a word from Naruto while the Wave family tried to get everyone else to calm down. Tsunami approached Naruto in an effort to calm him down and walk him away from his teammates. She was protective of him for all his polite behavior and sweet insight and stories._

_Naruto wanted nothing but silence and solitude. He tensed, ready to hit something, and with a glare at the boy who started it all, Naruto screamed._

"_Shut up! Just, just – _fuck you, you asshole!_" _

_Naruto bolted._

x

Now, about a good two hours later, Naruto was simply fuming. He wasn't as angry as before, but he was still upset. Just thinking about returning sent large waves of nausea through his stomach and throat. He only had his glasses, Flip Book and Wristband; his weapons pouch was still at the house. Even his new storage seal was at the small house. Naruto sighed and glared at his feet in the dirt. The town was mostly deserted at the time, so no one noticed him.

His eyebrow twitched.

Sakura's feet stepped into his view and she stood in silence.

"What?" He asked grumpily. He watched as Sakura's shoes nudged the dirt nervously before she knelt to his eyelevel. She looked guilty.

"Kakashi-sensei is really angry." She announced timidly. "He gave me and Sasuke-kun," Naruto's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "a lecture about teamwork and trust. He's more upset that you left though. We split up about thirty minutes ago to find you. Will you come back Naruto?" Naruto didn't answer immediately. He felt a little hurt that it took his team more than an hour to even start looking for him. Against his will, he felt tears in his eyes.

"I'm gonna be court marshaled, huh?" He asked, his voice hitching. Sakura bit her lip in sympathy.

"I don't know." She answered truthfully. She sat next to him and remained quiet, not wanting to push the blond into anything. Naruto sniffled once, but didn't move.

Sakura would readily admit tonight was a bad night. There was too much anger for everyone to simply ignore this incident, and a big uncomfortable secret had been revealed that wasn't going to be forgotten. Looking at the way Naruto dealt with the aftermath, though, Sakura was worried and also very sad on the blond's behalf.

When Naruto first admit to liking Sasuke, she felt angry. _She_ was the one on the team who was going to earn Sasuke's affection, not some other _boy_! Then Naruto got angry, and Sakura realized the boy may not even like him anymore, and she felt very smug. Except, a part of her was indignant. You can't simply stop liking Sasuke, after all. He was the last Uchiha!

Then Naruto ran, and she felt helpless in the mess that exploded after. Tsunami started yelling at Kakashi-sensei about child psyche's and development and how she knew Naruto was more fragile than most children because of a nonexistent support circle. Or something like that. Sakura felt guilty even though she didn't completely understand. She was glad Kakashi-sensei seemed to understand Tsunami-san. Their hostess looked ready to murder if their sensei decided to argue.

Then Kakashi gave her and Sasuke The Lecture. He started off with his disappointment and his confession to wishing he could spank them all, which was uncomfortable to hear so bluntly. Then he explained how Naruto's affections are not uncommon, and that their reactions were childish and inappropriate, more so that they were in the field rather than home base. This sort of distraction was more deadly in the field, and he fully expected them to reconcile as soon as they were in the same room together.

After that, Kakashi confessed that Naruto and he himself may be in the most trouble due to protocol. He didn't elaborate, but let the two genin chew on that for a few minutes. Then they discussed search patterns and a time limit before setting off to find Naruto.

Sakura didn't apply the search pattern. She headed to where she thought the blond may go instead. She was wrong, having guessed the dock, but he was closer than she thought besides. After ten minutes of silence, she spoke again.

"Ano, we should head back." Naruto glared at the road defiantly.

He didn't want to. He knew he was supposed to, having been given an indirect order. But he didn't want to. He didn't trust himself at the moment, and he didn't want to chance speaking until he knew he wasn't going to say something else stupid. He needed to relax and be alone, as opposed to just being alone and seething. He couldn't exactly ditch Sakura though. She had found him and deliberately losing her would be looked at as an action of defiance. He didn't want to get in even more trouble.

Maybe he just needed to keep her with him.

"Not now, please?" He asked with a swallow. His throat was sore and irritated.

"Okay. Do you want to walk around?" Sakura asked, looking at the boy carefully. Seeing how hurt Naruto was really hit home Kakashi's lecture. She felt guilty now, and really hoped Naruto would feel better soon. She knew whenever she was upset she just needed to take a walk with Ino. The walks helped her, and having company with a set of ears and a shoulder for support wasn't too bad either. Naruto seemed to perk a little at the suggestion, even if the town was worn and iffy.

"Yeah. Thanks Haruno-san."

"Sakura. Please, call me Sakura." She said gently. Naruto looked at her, pushing his glasses down a little to really look at her.

Naruto didn't call anyone by their name, opting instead to remain polite if distant. He hadn't once called his teammates by their name, only their family name in all the time they'd worked together. He never even gave them permission to call him by his name, yet Sakura always had. Sasuke called him Naruto or Uzumaki depending on his mood and how he wanted to belittle or taunt him. That Sakura was offering him a closer relationship after their recent team mess was like acceptance and repentance from her.

Naruto really wanted to be friends with his team...

"Okay, Sakura." She beamed gratefully at him. "I just want to check out the Odd Hole around here. The one at home always calms me down if I go there upset." Sakura's smile faded.

"The Odd Hole? I heard that Wave's Odd Hole was dangerous. It's not like normal ones." She said, worried.

"Yeah? I hear that too. I think it's all rumors though. I just wanna see. Please?" Naruto asked, trying to wipe his puppy dog face off so as to keep what dignity he had left. It was too late though, as Sakura had still caught it. And then she just caved.

"Okay, fine. But just a quick look. Kakashi-sensei was really upset and we should report back soon."

"Rodger that Sakura-san." Naruto gave a quick salute and dusted off his pants from the small damp stones clinging to him. She smiled in relief as the blond was starting to look better already. The two started walking.

X

Naruto led himself and Sakura to the other end of town. There was a temple dedicated to a type of deity sitting along the road, but it was obviously abandoned and greatly neglected. Naruto took a mental note to send the coordinates to Tari-chan. She liked learning about spirituality and religions of his era.

"Naruto, are you sure we're not lost?" Sakura asked.

"Positive."

"That tree looks familiar." Naruto glanced at it.

"It's a lesser oak." He informed. There were plenty of those species of trees around Wave. Sakura scowled and Naruto flinched when he heard her knuckles crack.

"I meant that it looks like we passed it before." She forced out of clenched teeth. Naruto turned around to observe the tree more closely. He tilted his head.

"I guess so." He agreed lightly.

"Arg! We're lost!"

"No we're not!" Naruto defended himself. He flourished his hand towards the large poles beside him, nearly completely camouflaged with leafy vines and a fair sized tree growing close to one of them. "We're here. I've been following the path." He added with a glance to their feet. Sakura looked down to the slightly shorter grass and imbedded stones of the trail she didn't realize could be a trail. It was nearly invisible.

"Oh."

"Come on!" Naruto urged suddenly as he pulled her through the open gates by her wrist.

"But, Naruto, the demons!" Naruto laughed, _laughed!,_ at her and pulled her into the rusty door. The large room was dark, only a few beams of light striking through the darkness, though they were mostly dim and flickering. Sakura shivered at the creaks and echoes of dripping something in the deeper, inky darkness. She had no idea how large this Odd Hole was, and she wondered if Naruto was clinically insane to be as excited as he was. Naruto had started bouncing in place as he observed everything with her. There wasn't anything coming out of the shadows for them, and Sakura was ready to go back now.

"Sakura! This is it! This is really it! Sakura, you gotta play with me! Please~!" Naruto suddenly yelled as he shouted in joy and excitement. Sakura placed a hand over her racing heart and glared at the blond as he suicidally screamed in the den of demons.

"Naruto, shut up!" She whispered furiously, inching backwards to the door behind her. The darkness didn't hint towards anything awaking or moving. "What are you talking about now?" She couldn't help but contradict herself. Naruto getting excited over something had to mean something big.

"_Battlefield_. It's a game I like playing, and this is the final level! I never thought I'd be able to finish the game, and I've only played by myself. Please say you'll play with me Sakura! Please please please! My last level in my game said that the final level was actually a theme park, and I never thought I'd find it! This Odd Hole isn't full of demons or monsters! It's the final level to _Battlefield!_" Naruto was bouncing on his feet, from what Sakura could tell. Though she was relieved to know she wasn't in danger of being eaten, she still had no idea what Naruto was talking about. She was grateful that he wasn't as morose as earlier though.

"Fine. How do we play and how long will it take?" Naruto didn't answer as he cheered and promptly dashed into the darkness and disappeared. Sakura stayed in her patch of light from the outside. She wasn't supposed to follow him, right? If she was, she wasn't going to. After a moment of Naruto bumping into things and swearing, his face was suddenly lightened up by a bright rectangular light floating around. Naruto squinted in the darkness and Sakura could hear him pushing buttons that clicked.

"Just give me a minute, Sakura-san." Naruto said as he continued to click buttons as it typing on a computer keyboard.

"Sure." She answered as she shifted her feet and looked around her. A whirring and loud humming had started up. A few things clanged and crashed as sounds shifted and became louder in movement.

"And done! Ready Sakura-san!" Sakura wished he just called her Sakura. Then the lights came on and Sakura screamed. There was a monster, red and hairy and multitailed in a lupine body just six feet away from her! It wasn't moving towards her, in fact it was disappearing into the floor, frozen in a stalking position as it seemed to fall slowly into nothing, but it was still frightening to see. It could have been the Nine Tailed Fox Demon!

"Naruto! What's going on!" Sakura demanded as she realized there were all sorts of monsters and creatures melting into the floor. And the floor itself was even shifted and rising up like a macabre parody of a child playing with clay to build a city. She was going to have nightmares, she just knew it!

"Just resetting the game." Naruto replied as he hopped over another counter, with broken glass and a corner of black-blue moss spread everywhere. Naruto approached a red and blue metal cabinet and kicked the rusted lock. The doors creaked open and after a moment of rummaging, in which Sakura wondered how Naruto knew what he was looking for, he pulled out two weapons that were reminiscent of her dad's hunting rifle, only thicker and shorter.

"What are those for?" She asked as he handed her a red one, keeping the blue one for himself, and took off a few clips she didn't realize could come off of the guns.

"These," He gestured to the odd rifles, "are our first weapons. We can find more in the game and use them as needed, but we can only use these from now on. Our kunai and shuriken won't affect the _aliens_. I guess that's where the rumors of invincible monsters came about for this Odd Hole. These are programmed to be shot by these." He pointed to the disappearing monsters and odd guns. "And these," He pointed to the small clips he was putting on his neck, head, arms, torso and legs. "Are to let us know if we get shot at by the smarter _aliens_. We get a leeway if hits are nonlethal, like a hit to the arm, as opposed to instant kills like a blow at the neck or heart. Ready!" Sakura looked between the 'ready' Naruto with various blue spots all over him and smiling, and her own gun with the red clips still not on her own body.

"I have no idea what you just said." She replied as she smiled back and held her red gun the way Naruto was holding his. "How do I put these on?" Naruto laughed good naturedly and helped her as the last the monsters disappeared and the land continued to shift and morph. She noted that the metal platform she and Naruto were standing on was taped off with grey and white tape that may have been black and yellow at one point. Their platform wasn't shifting around like the rest of the field around them.

"So, scores of what you killed and how many are recorded until the end of the game. Since this is co-op, there is no winner so much as qualifying scores for certain items and weapons in the game until we achieve the objective, which it to infiltrate the _alien spaceship_ and destroy their home base. The closer we get, the harder it'll be. Are you ready now?" Naruto asked, a little calmer than before. Sakura shifted the gun in her hands before feeling comfortable enough to take a few steps with it. It was lighter than she thought it'd be.

"Yeah. Just us against them?"

"Yup. We are the last ditch effort to save the world." Sakura grimaced.

"No pressure." She mumbled. Naruto chuckled. "I'm ready." She smiled. It really did sound fun. And Naruto knew what he was doing, so she was going to follow him.

"Yes! _System Start_!" Naruto called in English. Sakura looked at him oddly before a loud voice stole her attention.

_**Starting **_**Battlefield**_** system. Player One, Blue: Uzumaki Naruto. Player Two, Red: Haruno Sakura. Uploading previous accomplishments from hand held device **_**Tolerance**_** memory storage. Uploading...**_

"Naruto, it knows are names." Sakura whispered, suddenly realizing she was hiding near Naruto and clutching his sleeve.

"Yeah, I put them in. I'm actually surprised it pronounced them properly." Sakura didn't know what Naruto meant by that, but he wasn't freaking out, even said he was the reason the bodiless voice that controlled the monsters (based off rumors) knew their name, so she wasn't going to let it bother her. Much.

_**Upload complete. Mission set. Start.**_

That didn't mean she was going to stop getting startled whenever that loud deep voice spoke in its demon tongues.

The whole area echoed with a beep and Naruto started walking to a street. Sakura followed him, suddenly realizing that the environment had changed completely. The ruins of what once could have been an amazing city were now rubble and debris. The sky, which was earlier a really high ceiling with many bright lights, was clear blue, brighter than outside, cloudless and maybe a few spots of black where the illusion was broken and incomplete.

"This is old technology." Sakura realized, thinking of the odd rainbow discs her mother liked to collect. Some of the thicker ones played a moving 3-D picture the way her distant uncle could do with his chakra. Only, the images the thick discs could play were so riddled with obvious technology, Sakura couldn't imagine there was any space to actually live. It was a wondrous world to think about though. "This is all old technology." She repeated softly as she looked around herself at the environment that had just been created around her. Naruto looked back at her and smile.

"Yeah. Cool, huh?" Sakura hitched her gun higher and smiled back. With the setting looking less broken and more amazing, she was feeling more confident.

"Yeah." She agreed. Naruto looked at her before looking around them.

'Girls looked cool with guns.' He thought before starting to crouch near the edges of the side panel of a downed cement tower. Sakura followed him readily. 'Though, maybe I should explain some gun safety tips...' He wondered as he noticed Sakura's fingers on her trigger already.

xXx TBC… xXx

HK: Blah! I was so ready for the next chapter! I hope no one got too much of a feeling that this was a filler chapter. It really is the next one that I'm looking forward too, but I had to push the story forward somehow in order to get there. I guess I should apologize right now though for leaving you all at a cliffie... Sorry! This chapter was important too! I needed the team to split for a bit so Sakura can get her first introduction to technology!

Yay video games!

Posted: 07Jun11


	7. Right Click

Title: Technicalities

Rating: T

Character(s): Naruto Uzumaki

Summary: Ninja technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?

Disclaimer: I own no one but my OC. You'll know her when you see her.

Warnings: So, yeah. You know how life just seems to be against you? I won't offer any excuses, or reasons, but I'll just leave with that question. This chapter does not make up for the long wait… I sowwy...

xXx Chapter Seven: Right Click xXx

Naruto panted, wondering when Sakura would be done. It had been almost three minutes since they split up to trap the ringleader. He could hear the rapid fire of her gun in the distance, so she was still in the game. She wasn't supposed to be shooting though. She was supposed to be setting up her half of the trap.

"Dammit." Naruto carefully peaked over his chosen hiding spot and yelped as the edge blew up. He was grateful for the goggles he found. He probably would have gotten injured or something. Scrambling back, Naruto disappeared just as two demons – one gelatinous blob of red with boney spikes around a spine with two arms of weapons, and the other a reptilian lizard with too large of eyes and a tiny set of knives in four clawed hands – surrounded his former spot and proceeded to investigate. He flinched when they almost set his part of the trap, a stretchy line currently hooked to a corner of the boulder he had been hiding behind.

He heard Sakura yell loudly as she fired off some sort of loud weapon. Naruto wondered if she found a rocket launcher or something and hoped she was okay. It sounded like she was really into the game, so he counted that as a plus. Especially since these monsters were twenty times harder than they were in Tolerance.

**Forty minutes to launch**

The game warned loudly from the cloudy ceiling. Naruto snagged his radio as he slipped away from the two monsters in front of him. They crowded close to his former hiding spot and started sniffing the ground. Naruto felt his heart stutter at the realization and turned tail.

Trackers.

Naruto dashed a little farther in the shadows and held the side button of his radio. He let go in a loud click. Sakura clicked hers in reply twice after a moment. Naruto couldn't hear her trailing explosions, so he assumed she was safe and no longer causing any mayhem and destruction. She may be a little trigger happy, but she had great aim.

"Sakura. We have less than forty minutes left."

"_**How do you know? Did you find a timer?"**_ She asked in reply.

"Yeah. It was a quick glimpse though, before the _aliens_ destroyed it. What time do you have?"

"_**My watch reads 0646. I'm still not sure if it's a watch though."**_ Sakura read. Naruto had given her a digital watch before they separated.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it is. When it reads, say, 0705 we should hurry up and meet at the base of the ship if we haven't before. I'm heading there now. My parts are set up, unless the _aliens_ manage to disarm my parts before we can spring everything."

"_**I'm almost done. I'll head to you soon."**_

"Roger, out."

"_**What? Oh yeah. Out"**_ Naruto wished they covered radio communications at the Academy.

X

Kakashi was getting worried...

Well, okay, he can be honest to himself.

Kakashi was panicking! On the inside. He didn't want to worry Sasuke.

After searching as far as he would allow himself to think Naruto could reach, he had doubled back to meet his team and hopefully have someone find his littlest genin. Sasuke had arrived, without Naruto, a few minutes after he had. Sakura hadn't arrived on time, so Kakashi assumed she had found the blond and was in the process of dragging his pre-teen angsty self back.

That was more than thirty minutes ago. Now it was thirty minutes after the predetermined meeting time. And just now, Kakashi received a rush of memories that caused him to tense a fist and hold a curse on his tongue.

Sasuke was already pacing and obviously distressed. There was no need to tell him that his teammates weren't at Tazuna's home, the place Kakashi was hoping they were at before his Kage Bushin alerted him otherwise.

Sasuke growled and looked at him, face sullen and hands in pocket, no doubt in fists.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm?" Kakashi looked at him from the corner of his visible eye. The Uchiha glanced at the trees before looking at him again.

"I... I don't want Naruto to leave." It wasn't the normal apology Sasuke had normally offered during training breaks in Konoha, but it was one.

"Well, when we find Naruto, you can tell him that yourself." Sasuke looked uncertain.

"But where is he? And Sakura?"

"Hm, good questions. Let's go exploring. No use splitting up again. I might not have any students left if we did." Kakashi nearly kicked himself. Sasuke's wide gaze told him he was too insensitive this time. Naruto's departure had shaken him a lot more than he thought if he was reverting back to his cynical personality normally reserved to far stressful times than these. Well, he was missing half his team. Maybe he was allowed this much stress for the situation. "Come along, Sasuke."

Sasuke kept close, to Kakashi's relief. The boy has had bad luck with his family dying around him, and having his second family, Team Seven, all but falling apart around him was no doubt bringing back nightmarish fears. Kakashi could be honest with himself. He didn't want to lose his team either. Dead or alive, he was going to find his genin.

If this was Zabuza's doing, Kakashi planned to destroy the man.

X

Naruto and Sakura frowned as they crept forward. The lighting was bright, the hallways were clean, and the entire floor was silent. If Naruto didn't know any better, he'd say they walked out of the game and into someone's business building. Except their equipment would have stopped working and they would have been alerted by their hit zones if that was the case. As it was, their weapons, a laser gun and tazer launcher, were still humming in standby and ready to be used.

"Naruto? Something doesn't feel right." Sakura whispered.

"Yeah, I feel it too." He murmured back at her. They froze when they heard the sounds of conversation. They could understand it. Sakura looked at him with inquiring eyes. Naruto looked back before looking ahead and readying himself. Sakura followed his lead easily and stood close, also ready. They traveled close to the wall, despite the fact they stood out easily, and made their way to the sounds of people.

"-even do that! A curse to Konoha! My money is on the line!"

"Aw shut up! I heard you the first five times! My payroll is in trouble too! Stop complaining and just sign the damn petition!"

"No way! Gatou will send Zabuza after us and then we get no money at all! I'll take my pay cut, and life, thanks!"

"Idiot! If Gatou loses all his guards, he'll have to pay us all to keep us! It won't work if only some of us strike!"

"I'll sign when Zabuza signs!"

"He'll be signing after-"

A creaky metal door was slammed and the shouting continued in a more muffled tone.

'Gatou? Zabuza? Here in _Battlefield_?' Naruto wondered. He was suddenly very aware of the fact that he didn't have Tolerance or Revenge on him; as per Battlefield rules. Because of this, he also realized he'd been relying on his gadgets too much. Tari-chan warned him about this... He hated it when she was right.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked. He was reminded of the fact that his hearing was always better than everyone else's. Sakura probably didn't hear the conversation as well as he had. Naruto noted that she at least had her weapons pouch. He had left his own when he ran out of Tsunami-san's house...

"I think Gatou is using the Odd Hole for his base." Naruto murmured, biting the corner of his lip in growing anxiety. Sakura turned pale and suddenly seemed to stop breathing.

"Those guys said Zabuza. Zabuza is _here_." Sakura let out a quiet squeal as she realized this. Naruto wondered how much she heard, but didn't care to figure it out. She made out the words that mattered.

"Yeah, but Kakashi-sensei did a lot of damage to him, remember? And Kakashi-sensei is still healing himself, so I don't doubt Zabuza is also less than 100%. We just need to avoid everyone as we try to find the Ringleader and spring the trap on it."

"Naruto, do you hear yourself?! We are in real danger! Forget the game, Zabuza is here and anyone else can catch and kill us!" Sakura whispered furiously. Naruto shrugged.

"Not if they think we're also a part of _Battlefield_." He grinned at her blank face. Sakura blinked once, twice, and scowled.

"Na-ru-to…" She growled. Naruto tried not to show how unsettling that tone of hers was.

"Yeah?" She glared at him for a moment more before sighed in defeat and hitching her weapon over her neck.

"What's your plan?" She asked.

Naruto patted himself on the back, and made a note of how badass Sakura looked right now. When he did make a plan, he definitely wanted to make sure she stood just like that.

"Okay, first, this is what we need to keep in mind." He started rambling.

X

"See them?" He whispered, extremely conscious of the elite and high level how-could-he-not-sense-me murderer just a few feet away. Granted, those few feet also had a wall and a couple of arguing people between it, but still. Yelling distractions aside, there was a high level how-could-he-not-sense-me-yet Jounin or higher blade wielder just a few feet away.

"Yes." She whispered back. She glanced once in Zabuza's direction, but only for a moment. Naruto wondered what she knew about the much stronger and capable than them how-could-he-not-sense-me-yet rougue nin that allowed her to dismiss him so easily. He wanted to be able to do so as well.

"See it?" He whispered again. He could feel the air around them. It felt stale and smelled old. Or was it felt old and smelled stale? Regardless, he hated lookout. The hallway was thankfully empty and they may have their targets in position for the plan… Maybe.

…

Maybe.

"Ne?" He turned a little. Sakura had her gaze trained in front of her, her weapon charged and aimed. She had a frown of concentration and her eyes narrowed as she shifted her weapon slightly. She gave a silent gulp and then her attention sharpened before she breathed a word.

"Yes." She smiled a crooked eager smile that, while wasn't directed at him, Naruto felt like she was still smiling at him.

'Sakura-chan is badass with a gun.' Naruto mused to himself again. 'A bit creepy, but still.'

"On your cue then." He replied, briefly glancing over his own weapon to make sure it was fully loaded and ready.

"Wait, I'm starting this off?" She nearly spoke louder than a faint whisper. Naruto just rose an eyebrow and gestured to his weapon. His laser gun was awesome, but she had the freakin' tazer launcher. That thing was much better at startling attention grabbing entrances ,and she had a pretty good aim with it. She didn't seem to understand that but after a loud gulp, she glared at the door before aiming and kicking it open.

"HIT THE DECK!" Naruto screamed as loud as he could as he shot at the ceiling from behind her.

"FIRING ROUND ONE!" Sakura screamed louder, above the crashing and screaming and threatening, and her weapon gave a shrill whistle/howl before clicking and booming a large ball of white crackling electricity.

The _alien_, a spidery white limbed thing with rings of red and green alternately glowing, screamed in distress and pain before collapsing from its perch near the ceiling. It had been pretending to be a statue, no doubt waiting for the signals of a players' hit zone to act. It probably didn't even register the meeting that was going on around it by Gatou's flunkies and cronies. They likewise probably thought it was a creepy statue.

"Out of the way!" Naruto demanded as he shoved past Zabuza – '_I'm fucking insane!_' he thought as he did it– and darted to the computer. Sakura played her role beautifully and kicked the twitching _alien_ as if she wasn't breaking a thousand rumors by making it move away from her. It finished its dance of death and gave a guttural moan of agony before dying in the corner it landed in just as Sakura loudly reloaded.

"It doesn't seem as if there was anyone else in here." Sakura mused before shutting the door. It clicked closed, surprisingly. The bottom half was still missing a good portion of a corner.

"Good." Naruto replied absently as he methodically revealed the motherboard computer to the _alien spaceship_. There were a few seconds of whirring and sounds of a waking up computer as Naruto typed in all the codes he knew to bring the computer to the camera angles he wanted it to show him. Yes, the computer wasn't even on yet, but it was made in an era where computers were actually slower than the people that used them simply because it wasn't advanced in processing speed yet. Which probably worked for the best, since Naruto knew he knew what he was doing, and the other could tell he knew what he was doing, but no one (even Sakura-chan) could understand it.

"Hey now," Zabuza's gravelly voice said after a couple long seconds of stunned silence. "You two, you're Hatake's brats." He growled. Sakura aimed her launcher at him just as he seemed ready to move towards Naruto.

"Listen here you eyebrowless freak." She said clearly. "I don't know who this Hatake guy you're talking about is, but you dare interrupt my partner on our mission and you might as well destroy all of humankind." She clicked her weapon to be safetyless and the sound of a whistling howl started to become audible. "I refuse to let you do that." She hissed angrily.

"Saa, saa, Kura-chan. They're just civvies. Lighten up." Naruto spoke in a distracted tone. Zabuza visibly bristled at that, and Sakura's twitching eyebrow was more of worry than annoyance. "You can't fault them for not knowing about these hard times. After all, how can anyone without this technology know about the world news just seconds after it happened?" Just after those words, Naruto finished his command and hit play. The sounds of a waking up computer stopped and Naruto stepped back.

The screen, a bland white that blended into the wall, suddenly darkened to black, then blue, and a myriad of characters from at least fifteen language flashed through as it started up and immediately started playing the clip that Naruto selected.

The scenes around the mothership showed a destroyed city, then it flashed to a burned down forest, and then a barren, dried up lake. Sakura and he had passed through such terrain just to get inside the hip, but to the rest of the people in the room, it looked like the sudden destruction of the world.

"What the hell?" One of the men whispered. Naruto gave a solemn sigh.

"This is the world." He spoke just as the scene flashed to another camera around the mothership to where there was a gathering of the _alien_ varieties, and they seemed to still be hunting.

"We don't know how many of us still exist, but our numbers are rapidly decreasing." Sakura informed before she gave an angry look at her weapon. Then her expression softened to something a little more remorseful and she seemed to lean into the butt of her gun as if she were hugging a teddy bear. Being that both she and he were only twelve, no doubt it had some kind affect of the group in the room.

"There mothership is nearby." Naruto informed them. "I remember hearing rumors of a computer that may have existed from long ago, so I had hoped it was still safe. This is it, and I'm glad it still works. Are you guys willing to help us take back our planet, as pointless as it may seem?" He asked.

"I didn't think the monsters in the Odd Place could actually touch us." A soft voice pondered from behind Zabuza. Naruto thought the voice was familiar, but imagined that he'd know as soon as he could use Tolerance again. Actually, the outfit did sort of look familiar too. When did he meet an associate of Zabuza's?

"You must have met just the _ProtoAliens_. They are like scouts and information gathers. Anything they touch that is sentient, they copy the memories of. At least, that's what my Mother used to say. They weren't created to be harmed unless certain criteria were met." Naruto looked at the floor for a moment before turning back to the computer and starting to type. Sakura glared at the boy standing just behind Zabuza before moving to stand next to Naruto. She wasn't going to let anyone take a shot at them with their back turned.

"What are you doing kid? And what's your name?" Zabuza asked after another moment.

"Name's Arashi." Naruto replied with his distracted tone. "You?"

"Zabuza. So, we're the planet's last stand?"

"Hopefully not, but I know we're the most informed."

"Arashi here grew up using all this technology we think of as old and advanced." Sakura stated. "He knows better than anyone in the world how to do this. Since most everyone else in the world is dead, make yourself useful and don't distract him." She snapped.

"Man, there goes our paycheck!"

"Oi! What did I just say!?"

Zabuza gave a disgusted look at the five or so men who brought him to the room and clearly dismissed them by stepping to the other side of the room. The boy next to him followed like a shadow. He paused thoughtfully at the corpse of the alien before continuing to his station. Naruto sent a prayer of thanks to the makers of Battlefield. The aliens actually gave off a rancid smell of death that was pretty convincing. If an alien corpse actually had a stink, it was stinking just like the one in the room. 

**Fifteen minutes to launch**

The voice in the ceiling was actually pretty loud, and the rest of the group on the room blanched.

"Was that, was that the voice of an alien?" One of the hitmen asked. The others in the room looked in the ceiling with various expression of realization or incredulity.

"Yeah." Naruto and Sakura replied. Sakura glanced at the watch on her wrist.

"Er, Arashi, what time did you want me to wait for the watch to say?"

"When it says 0721, we need to abort everything and run as fast and as far as we can."

"Well then. We have about ten minutes until that time." Sakura announced.

"What happens then?" Zabuza asked, seeming incredibly calm compared to the panicking others.

"Well, then the alien's transportation will set off and the area will be completely destroyed." Naruto answered with a shrug.

"Fuck that!" One guy yelled quickly before darting to the door and throwing himself out the room. "We're all gonna die!" He screamed hysterically. Sakura quickly closed the door after the other four non shinobi ran out.

"Pussies." She scoffed. Naruto had to hold back a snort. He quickly typed in his questions into the computer for a reason to give Zabuza to betray Gatou and help them instead. He couldn't help the gasp that escaped his throat when he found one.

"What?" Sakura asked. Zabuza watched the computer screen in obvious curiosity, and Sakura hoped that he could read it just as much as she could; which was none at all. She made a mental note to ask Naruto where he learned the Old Language.

"Zabuza, I'm glad you decided to help us. Your previous employer was planning to betray you so that after you finished the mission he hired you to do, he wouldn't have to pay you the money he promised." Zabuza's dark gave glared at Naruto's head, and Sakura hoped he wouldn't get killed because of the suddenly non_alien_ related information.

"Is that right?" The boy in the dark green and white outfit asked, looking much calmer than Zabuza's killing intent felt like.

"Ah. Look." Naruto pressed the enter key to play the selection he hoped for and found.

With this, he hoped Zabuza would no longer be a problem for Wave.

X

Sasuke was pissed. He was done being chastised, apologetic, and even worried. As soon as he saw Naruto he planned to punch the asshole in the face and then kick him at least once. Hopefully over the bridge Tazuna was working on.

After waiting for Naruto and even Sakura for more than an hour, Kakashi said that the two of them had to continue on with the mission. Tazuna had to work on his bridge, so after the drunkard was done for the day, Kakashi would use the time that would have been spent training his team looking for the other half of them instead.

And Sasuke wasn't allowed to go along.

"Damn you, dobe. You better have a good reason to be staying away." He grumbled to himself as he practiced applying chakra to his feet. While Kakashi afforded a couple kage bushin to help with the bridge building (the sooner the mission was done, the sooner they could spend more time looking for Sakura and Naruto) Sasuke was slowly getting used to preparing himself for wall walking.

"_Traditionally, Tree Walking is done on, well, trees. It easier for chakra to find and connect to another source of life, even if that life source is a plant. Once a person has the confidence to consistently walk vertically over trees, the wall walking shouldn't be too difficult of a transition. Unfortunately, as we no longer have training time, we need to skip a step." Kakashi-sensei explained as Tazuna gave a safety talk to his workers before the start of the work day._

"_Can't I just look for the others while you guard him?" Sasuke asked. He was useless, especially in a Jounin battle, and he could care less of the mission if his teammates weren't even present. Kakashi shook his head._

"_You're not leaving my sight. And you need to be prepared if Zabuza decides to attack Tazuna here on the bridge. Walking along the edges of the walls over the water, or even under the bridge, would give you an advantage to staying alive should the need arise that the walkway become deadly. You'll be training while I continue the mission. If Zabuza does arrive, focus on staying out of his attention. You let me handle him." The deep tone his sensei used let Sasuke feel comfortable enough with the instructions to obey. He couldn't do anything to the man who hurt his team, but Kakashi had the ability and resolve to do so._

"_Hai, Kakashi-sensei."_

Sasuke glanced at Tazuna, who was working with two other men to turn a large wheel thing for dragging a steel beam thing to a pocket under the bridge. Or something like that. He sighed silently before seating himself on the edge of the wall, dangling his feet over the water. He concentrated and placed his chakra engulfed feet against the vertical wall. His shoes were off to help him get an idea of what his chakra was doing.

'Potential.' The word floated in his head as he thought of everything he knew about chakra. He knew that chakra was a type of energy, and that it could be considered sentient, or even defined as extension of a soul. It was a base of an element, and that was what made it malleable. It's what let it become so diverse.

Somehow, he needed his chakra to become 'sticky' so that it would hold onto him and the wall enough for him to stay on. And he needed to control that 'sticky' ability so that he could take a foot off and take a step. So that he could walk. He didn't know about running yet, since that would require both feel to let go of the wall, but, maybe the way to run was to glide that sticky point ahead of his feet instead of keeping a 'shoe' of chakra over his foot?

He put his 'sticky' foot on the wall and pulled it away. He concentrated on the feeling his chakra was giving him and what his body was telling him. He pat his foot a few times, trying to figure it out. Trying to ignore his teammate's situation, keep a small attention on Tazuna, and an awareness of Kakashi's many clones.

The voices and sounds around him blurred together.

'Potential.'

He will learn this chakra exercise. He will become proficient as a shinobi. He will never let his team down.

'Potential.' He remembered his mother talk about that, now that he thought about it.

"_Sasuke-chan! Sasuke-chan! Where are you?" His mother called from the door of their back yard. Sasuke poked his head out from the bush he had been crawling under._

"_I'm here, mommy!" She looked surprised to see him, but smiled her beautiful smile at him and walked over as he quickly made the ground look as much the way it had been before as he could._

"_What are you doing there, Sasuke-chan?" His mother asked as she knelt down just a foot away from the bush. Sasuke crawled out and gave her a hug, even though he had dirt all over his hands and face._

"_Nothing." He said into the hug. _

_He had been four years old. His mother, Uchiha Mikoto, had just quit the shinobi forces to be a stay at home mother. She had been a Jounin, and Sasuke knew she worked longer hours than his father. He had believed her to be stronger than his father. At the time, he didn't wonder what made his mother stay at home, but he liked being with her more now._

"_Nothing? Then why is there dirt all over you?" Mikoto asked in a light voice as she brushed some clumps of dry dirt off his hair._

"_I was looking for Chakura!" Sasuke said as he looked up at her with a smile._

_(Sasuke liked this memory, and he was glad there was no one around but his mother.)_

"_Chakura?" Sasuke nodded._

"_I like the way your hands glow when you rub my tummy. And when Ita-nii-san starts to glow his hands, he can make fire that doesn't burn him! I wanna use chakura too!"_

"_Ah, you mean chakra!" Mikoto said with a grin as she picked him up. "And who told you chakra could be found in a bush?"_

"_Well, plants are always glowing near the ground. I thought it was the same thing." She stopped walking to their koi pond._

"_What, Sasuke-chan?"_

"_I always see the same glow that's on your hands and sometime's father's eyes on the plants. Like there." He pointed to the largest tree in the yard. Mikoto looked at the tree, and didn't seem to see anything unusual about it._

"_Sasuke-chan, is my hand glowing?" She asked instead of commenting, showing her four year old child her right hand. Sasuke barely glanced at it before shaking his head. She gathered a small amount of chakra into her palm, just barely enough to make a leaf stick onto her. "What about now?" He nodded with a smile. She was silent for a moment as he traced the borders of what she gathered with a curious finger._

"_I wanna glow." He said in his childish voice._

"_Sweety, let me tell you something about chakra. It holds a lot of potential. Do you know what that means?" Sasuke nodded. His father pushed him in his vocabulary, probably more than should be done, but Sasuke excelled regardless._

"_It can do a lot." He defined. His mother smiled._

"_Yes. And potential is a lot better to have than chakra. You know mommy was a shinobi, right?" Sasuke nodded proudly. "Do you know what mommy did as a shinobi?" He blinked a couple times before shaking his head. Mikoto smiled. "Mommy used potential to make her chakra do a lot of things no one else could." She said before kissing his forehead and setting him on his feet in the grass._

"_Like what?"_

"_You know mommy doesn't have a Sharingan?" Sasuke nodded. It was a well known secret even he was aware of. He didn't understand the implications of it, not until he was much older, but at the time he knew enough to understand that his mother wasn't like the clan, and that some of the clan didn't like her because of it._

"_I know. I love mommy still!" Mikoto gave him another kiss._

"_Well, Sasuke-chan. Mommy may not have a Sharingan, but she has a secret not even daddy knows. Can you keep a secret, Sasuke-chan?" Sasuke nodded solemnly. "Look at mommy's eyes."_

_He did. They were closed, but Sasuke could, then, see that they were slowly glowing. Like daddy's eyes did when they became the red Sharingan. His mother opened her eyes, and even though they were still glowing, they remained the same dark brown eyes that Sasuke knew her to have. They didn't change. "What did mommy do?"_

"_If I want to, I can see things." She said cryptically. Her eyes stopped glowing and she made her hands glow instead. "If I want, I can make things stay. Or," Sasuke saw her make an open palm with closed fingers. He felt as if her hands became more, willing to let go or push. "I can make things go away." She walked backwards to the pond, and her feet glowed. Before Sasuke realized it, she was walking on the water. "Now, I can walk on things." Sasuke stared, quickly thinking of what his mother was saying and really meaning with the other earlier demonstrations. "And like this, I can pull things." She said, making both hands glow and a 'string' started to form between them. From the string of chakra, a line started to snake out. Sasuke stared in amazement as it fell onto a leaf and made it start to float back towards his mother._

"_Wow! I want chakra, mommy!" Sasuke exclaimed, before reaching out to the string. It stuck to him, but he wanted to control it too. Before realizing it, he pulled his own chakra out and his 'string' tied to his mother's. Who laughed._

"_You have your own chakra, silly." In a sudden move, many more of his mother's strings appeared and lifted him into her arms. "Remember, love. Our secret. When you graduate the Academy and become a shinobi, I'll show you all I know."_

"_Okay!"_

"_The Sharingan is good, yes. But I prefer to have potential. Remember that, Sasuke. No matter what you have or can do, your potential is what determines you. And soon, I'll teach you to use your potential for _everything_." With a tight hug, the two went back inside._

Sasuke wondered when he stopped seeing the glow of chakra. Remembering about the brief time he could see chakra, he wondered if his mother had a bloodline limit that she kept a secret from everyone. Does that mean he will never awaken a Sharingan? With his mother gone, did that mean he would never learn everything there was about this 'potential' of his? Did he even still have it?

"I know two bloodlines never mix well. You either have one or none." He noted. "I have a bloodline. I am an Uchiha. Uchiha have had the Sharingan since forever... But I haven't awakened mine yet, and I know that whatever mother had, I had too. I have potential, like she did..."

Having kept it a secret for so long, he had forgotten about it... And going by the definition, it was possible to lose potential. If only he knew what his mother meant!

"Which do I want?" He scowled. "Which do I have?"

He looked hard at his foot, knowing there was chakra on it, and unable to see anything. He pat his 'sticky' foot on the wall, before deciding to stop being cautious and just trying what he wanted to do. With a glance at Tazuna and his sensei, Sasuke stood on the edge, gathered his chakra, looked at the water, and glanced again at his sensei who had his back to him.

'Whoops, looks like I left his sight.' A rebellious part of his mind snickered.

He took a step forward.

X

The room was silent for a while. The screen just finished the previous video and Naruto decided to look for the answers to a few questions while Zabuza pondered the information that had been shown to him.

'I wonder where the self-destruct button on this ship is?' He asked the computer, which, being a part of _Battlefield_ was a piece of equipment and a question he was allowed to use.

The screen flashed red and green after he input the question.

With a sound between a gasp, a choke and a word that may have been 'erk', Naruto quickly tried every override code he knew.

"A-ra-shi..." Sakura-chan warned. Her angry question didn't even need to be vocalized.

"Okay, so maybe I shouldn't have tried that." He admit sheepishly. Slowly, the blinking of the screen spread to the room, and a slow siren started to become audible, and louder with each second.

"Arashi!" Sakura screamed as she darted towards a satchel in the corner. "Just for the record, I hate you so much!" She snarled before snagging the bag and pulling out the five rounds of ammunition for the both of them.

"Your weapons are ineffective against the _aliens_ and we don't have time to look for a weapon for you. I know where we need to go now. Either follow if you want or get the hell out of this country!" Naruto said to the two before hurrying to an impatient Sakura by the door.

"We barely have five minutes!" Sakura said after a quick glance to the watch on her wrist.

"This way, Sakura-chan!"

"How do you know where we're going if we're in this building!?" She asked as the siren got louder and _aliens_ started to morph from out of the walls. "Out-of-the-way!" She snarled at the many opponents before switching her setting from the highest level to the medium one for a more rapid fire.

"Oh, you're right!" Naruto hadn't taken the directions given to him with the building that had been built around the mothership part of the game. Hoping for at least some help, he yelled as loud as he could over the sounds of Sakura yelling and the 'patta patta patta' of her weapon. "_Computer,reveal quickest route to self destruction button!"_ He wondered why he didn't do so before.

The hall glowed blue before returning white, leaving a thin inch thick line along both walls with glowing white lights blinking towards the direction they had been heading.

"Hurry!" The two skid to a stop as a group of hitmen suddenly turned into their hallway.

"You, brats, are you responsible for all the demons crawling around!?" One screamed after really looking at their clothes.

"Their everywhere because of you!" Another said, aiming a bow at them.

"Scram, scum." Zabuza's voice said from behind Sakura, who screeched in fright and aimed her gun at the man, who tensed, but did nothing else since she didn't fire.

"Momochi-san..." The group look at each other before Naruto decided the situation was taken care of and started to continue following the line.

"Na- Arashi," Sakura corrected as she barely glanced toward Zabuza, who was following them. "I think we have only-"

**Five minutes to launch.**

"Five minute mark." Naruto finished for her.

"Yes."

"Alright, decision time. Run ahead, or run away?" He asked as they suddenly came to a stop. The lines continued through a building section that was obviously broken down and reconstructed in later times. They just lost their lead.

"Where here. Let's keep going. It shouldn't be too far away, should it?"

"It shouldn't, but I don't expect them to have the button without protections."

"Then smash through them, kid." Zabuza said gruffly before taking his sword and using it to demolish the obstacle that was in front of them. A few feet away, they saw the continuing lines.

"Hai! Arigato!" Naruto grinned at the man before the group continued.

Barely a minute later, they reached a door. They had lost their guiding lines twenty feet ago, but the direction had been predictable so they were confident of their destination. Sakura kicked the door open (Naruto thought she liked doing so) and the four ran inside before pausing.

"What is this!? What do you think you're doing!? Who the hell are you kids!? Guards! Destroy them!" Gatou ordered as he cowered behind his desk. The seven men with him paused and hesitated before the boy following Zabuza stepped forward.

"Gatou, I'm afraid the building must be evacuated for our safety. Would you please hurry?"

"Are you nuts!? There are demons all over the place! You were supposed to kill the bridge builder and guard me from the demons of this place! You worthless shinobi! I'm glad I was never planning to pay you! Guards, whoever kills the Demon of the Mist will get not only his paycheck, but his bounty!" Urged by fear and money, weapons started to fly.

"Hey! Watch it you creep!" Sakura yelled before her weapon was turned to full power and shot was fired just as more _aliens_ started to come out of the walls and from out in the halls.

"They're congregating here!" Naruto warned his teammate as he decided to stand door duty and take care of the jumping and ferocious _aliens_ in the hall.

"You two may take care of the demons. We will take care of the humans." The boy said as he suddenly held senbon that glittered in the multicolored lighting.

'Hey! He was the fake Hunter-nin!' Naruto realized just before Zabuza and his own partner massacred the people in the room. Naruto tried not to let it bother him yet, focusing instead on his own targets and the fact that with Gatou dead his mission would be easier. Sakura, unfortunately, immediately got sick in the corner she was in.

"Wh-Why did you have to kill them?" She tried to scream, obviously, as she had been doing so for the most part lately. Her words were instead whispered in horror, and Naruto remembered that his other Genin teammates weren't as immune to effects that their job brings. He studied the realities of his job thoroughly. They probably didn't.

He slammed the door and barred it against the aliens that couldn't melt through the walls and quickly lifted her out of her corner to the far side of the wall.

"Not now, Sakura-chan." He murmured to her as he aimed towards the aliens inside the room and quickly killed them before they could get any of the other three. Room cleared, he started shoving furniture away so that he could observe the floor. "Sakura-chan, look for some ammo for now. Hurry."

"H-hai." With a gulp, she stumbled towards the walls and started searching for signs that an item was waiting to be picked up. No one commented on the dry heave she made upon realizing just how close to a corpse she was at. Naruto was surprised at Zabuza's manners.

**Three minutes to launch.**

"Shit. Where is it?" Naruto stood in the middle of the room, hoping that his presence would kick start something like in previous levels.

The floor rumbled and started to separated digital block by digital block. Naruto backed up and the four waited as a small pole rose up and a black ball revealed a red button with a hole just under it. Naruto recognized the hole.

"We need a key!"

"This is all I found." Sakura said, holding a single weapon with ten rounds for it. She didn't look like she wanted to be in that room anymore, so Naruto gave her a sad smile and nodded to the door. She nodded mutely and after giving him the weapon, walked to the corner. "Guard her, please." He said to Zabuza and the other boy. They didn't look confused or sorry, but they complied.

Naruto walked up to the pole and the button on it. Just as he knew, the ceiling started to shake and just as he darted away, and key fell and a the alien queen arrived with a roar.

It was big, looked scaly and not only strong but durable.

"Damn, and I don't know what kind of weak point it has." Naruto said before it roared at him. Following that, it spat out globs of glowing blue fluid that Naruto barely dodged. Unfortunately, as he regained his balance and bearings, he realized he didn't quite dodge.

As he tried to aim for a first shot, he realized that he could move his arm. With a worried look, Naruto saw that he had been his in the shoulder and hand. From the hit zones on his right arm, the normal green lights were red, and from those zones, red liquid was slowly tinting the sizzling blue spit.

"Shit." The mother screeched again before moving with startling speeds toward him. Naruto dodged completely and though he wasn't left-handed, he would still hit. Naruto switched hands and fired a shot to the head. The beast roared and snarled and dripped its acidic spit everywhere as it turned its large body around, still standing over the pole, and whipped out a tail that apparently could stretch.

Kunai and senbon rained upon its head, mostly fazing though as most Odd Hole monsters were known for and only a couple sounded like they were registered as effective. The beast looked towards Sakura and the missing nin, and Naruto had an idea.

**Two minutes to launch.**

Battles were determined in seconds. Naruto hoped he could do this in his timeframe.

"Hey, ugly!" Naruto fired a shot, startled when the second glowed blue instead of the white it had been earlier.

Shit. Did that mean different shot effected different areas, or only a certain type would actually do what he wanted?

Crap.

The alien hissed at the shot and its neck bulged before another smaller alien spawned. Naruto fired at it, relieved that it died easily. Except that there were more coming. Frustrated, Naruto continued to fire at the aliens, trying to find a method of reason that was with his main weapon. While he shot at it, it spit at him, spraying its glowing blue spit everywhere. Since Sakura and the others weren't making a sound, Naruto glanced at them really quick.

They were still safe, watching avidly (which was embarrassing) but safe.

After running around dodging spit, which was gross, firing almost all his ammunition, and getting out of breath, Naruto still had no idea what he was supposed to do to defeat this final boss.

**One minute to launch.**

"Shit!" Naruto could feel his adrenalin raise. Then the alien spit a waterfall into the air and Naruto pushed chakra into his feet to run away when a though came to him.

"I'm an idiot."

"Naruto!" Sakura called in worry. Naruto refused to swear again when his distraction cost him a foot. Hobbling now, Naruto waited for the alien to turn towards him, towards the door and his teammate before calling out.

"Sakura-chan! I need you to fire at that thing when I say! Ignore what I do, just keep firing!" He ordered without looking at her.

"Ha-hai!" She sounded a little better, which was good. Naruto was going to give her the same advice that Tari-chan gave him when he worried about killing for the first time. He waited, and the alien seemed to wait as well. The spawns on its back growing in number, but none of them moved either.

"So, I guess that's what the mission really meant. Destroy the mother ship. Doesn't really matter if we kill the boss or not." Naruto mused.

**Ten.**

The alien roared the loudest it had and stood on its hind legs to do another tidal wave spit attack.

"Now, Sakura!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards it.

**Nine.**

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Sakura screeched. He was thankful that her tazer launcher was rapid firing on the aliens.

**Eight.**

Naruto pushed chakra in his feet, even though one of them made him feel off balanced, and darted and weaved through the aliens the best he could to get to the pole.

He hoped the key was still there.

**Seven.**

He hoped the key was the right key, actually. Maybe the real key was in the alien and he did have to destroy it?

"Gah!" His doubt made him hesitate, and an alien took a swipe at his side, his right side thankfully, so he didn't lose his other arm. Regardless, he was thrown a good way towards the wall and away from the pole.

**Six.**

"Naruto!"

"Keep firing!" He yelled back as he pushed himself up and gathered his chakra just a little more.

**Five. **

"Come on." He said to himself as he ran/hopped/hobbled in a fairly quick speed towards his destination.

**Four.**

With his good leg as a pivot, ducked and rolled as necessary.

**Three.**

"Whoa!" And he even jumped over some of the grey green aliens that were as tall as he was.

**Two.**

He landed in front of the pole, the mother alien standing over him and taking a breath. She was going to spit on him again. Grabbing towards the golden glint, Naruto nearly cried when he saw it really was a key and not some shiny scale. (Which had tricked him in previous levels.)

**One.**

Throwing himself on the pole, Naruto jammed the key in the hole.

The alien opened its mouth and glowing blue came out.

**Ze-**

Naruto hit the button.

The room was stained red.

xXx TBC… xXx

HK: 'Throwing himself on the pole, Naruto jammed the key in the hole.' Snort… Snicker. Did I really just type that?

Anyway. This chapter has been haunting me for the past year, wanting to be typed, really, but never coming out the way it wanted to. You could probably tell by the sporadic page breaks.

(Can you really call it a page break if it's in web format?)

Anyway, good? Bad? Should Zabuza had more interaction? (I'm thinking yeah) Should Haku have been introduced? (Just realized there was no proper time to fit it in...) Should Kakashi have had more of a pov? (I think he's still a bit flat, personally) Who doesn't like Sasuke's own twist of the past? (I'm actually excited to go into his character.)

Let me know what you're thoughts are, even if it's a simple: This should have been out twelve months ago!

Posted:

Last Edit:


	8. Upside Downside Leftside Rightside

Title: Technicalities

Rating: T

Character(s): Naruto Uzumaki

Summary: Ninja technology had to come from somewhere, even it was the very distant past. Because they weren't the ones who created it, they obviously couldn't be familiar with everything. How disastrous could it be if Naruto was raised by someone who was?

Disclaimer: I own no one but my OC. You'll know her when you see her.

Warnings: Chapter name is retarded.

xXx Chapter Eight: Upside Downside Leftside Rightside xXx

Sasuke pat his hand on the cement underbelly of the bridge. Cautiously, slowly, he pressed the palm of his hand to the bridge and lifted the toes of one of his feet. He brought it a little closer to him and tapped the bridge a couple of times before he felt his chakra 'snap' to it. He moved his hand ahead of him and tapped the bridge again before feeling his chakra grab it.

"I feel like a monkey." He decided to himself, trying not to think about the waves and sharp rocks jutting out of the water below him. He slowly shuffled forward, feeling a little like a mountain climber as he moved his toes. Since he was essentially crawling, his entire sole of his feet couldn't grab onto the cement and metal above him.

"I wonder if I could actually walk." He didn't dare let go of the bridge with his hands yet. He didn't know how to comfortably transition his form to only his feet. It was getting easier to move now, but he wanted a few more stable crawling steps before daring to let go of his support.

He looked down to the water, and past the vertigo of seeing the dangers just below him if he fell. He didn't feel like trying yet.

"Right, I'll just reach the end and maybe I'll go back with walking..." He glanced at the water again and continued to crawl slowly but smoothly.

"Maybe I shouldn't have jumped into this..." He hoped the end wasn't getting further from him. He wanted to stand up right soon.

X

The room was stained red, and after a few long quiet seconds of the lights not changing back to its off-white shade, the four looked around themselves.

"So, we won?" Naruto shrugged at Sakura, who looked paler in the red light than before.

"Well, Ms. Ugly isn't really moving, so…" He jerked a thumb at the frozen alien above him and looked relieved but confused.

"Well, now that that's over-" The boy with dark hair and eyes was startled to silence when the lights turned back on. The dead _alien_ bodies slowly started to melt, losing their color and disappearing into the floor. The equipment and accessories that Sakura and Naruto had collected in their blinked out of sight, revealing their former clothes of a mid length high slit dress with black shorts and sandals, and a sleeveless shirt and baggy shorts, a hat in his belt and red glasses on his head. The various Hit Zones they had strapped on them stopped glowing.

Sakura gulped and looked terrified at the two missing ninja, and Naruto just looked slightly irritated at losing his slight disguise.

"So, you _are_ Hatake's brats…" Zabuza focused on them with a glare, his hand slowly reaching for the handle poking over his shoulder. "You bumped me on purpose," he glared at Naruto before leveling it to Sakura. She would have sworn that he looked even angrier at her. "And you insulted me." He drew his sword and pointed it to them. "What do you think, Haku? Quick or slow for them?" The boy, Haku, merely smiled and gave a little giggling hum.

"I think there are two of them so you could probably do both."

"Wait wait wait! It's not like we lied to you or anything! We saved your lives!" Sakura pleaded, obviously trying to find a way to escape.

"You are our enemies. Your mission is to get rid of us." Haku replied, smoothly standing in the way of the door.

"Actually, it was to provide protection for the bridge builder Tazuna." Naruto said. Sakura hated him in that moment, since he didn't look nearly as worried as she did. "Gatou was the one holding his life in jeopardy, and with him gone, we just need to wait for the bridge to get done. We don't have anything between us that'll make us enemies."

"Just shut up, kid. You've pissed me off and you have the gall to think you can get away with it?" The sword was drawn and Zabuza stepped closer.

"Well, if I open Gatou's safe and give you his account information, will that make it better?" There was a pause in the room for a beat.

"Naruto..." Sakura growled in frustrated defeat. She didn't understand the leap in logic for him to make that offer. "What do you know?" She demanded. Naruto gave a sly little smile and walked toward Haku, reaching past him to open the door.

"These men, Sakura-chan, are going to create a revolution! If there's anything I like more than information, it's progress from that information. Mist is in an oppression worse than anything the other elemental countries can guess. I give the continent five years before a war breaks out between all Shinobi Villages. Zabuza can strengthen Mist and make it more stable if he was the Kirikage. The more stable a Kage, the less likely a war will break out."

"How optimistic." Zabuza replied with sarcasm. "You seem to think this makes us friends." Naruto smiled at him, flipping his glasses over his eyes.

"Well, why shouldn't we be?" He said. "You don't have to ally with Konoha after you decapitate the current Kirikage. However, you will be in a favorable light if you offer alliances with us after you succeed. I know the Hokage on a more personal level than most of the village, if I do say so myself. I may not be worth a ransom, but I can help the Old Man accept your offer if you really want to side with us."

Naruto felt like a liar, and he hoped the obvious deceit wasn't as obvious as he thought it was.

'I don't want to die!'

X

Kakashi closed his eyes and tried not to count to ten. Trying not to do something was much better at clearing his mind than doing something to not think of something. Thus the standing over the edge of the bridge and not counting to ten, as opposed to counting to ten and thinking of all the various reasons that could have made him lose his last remaining student. He needed to get his thoughts in order.

"He just stepped forward." He stated, remembering what one of his clones witnessed. "He could have been in a trance, in worse mental health than I thought, or testing something with his chakra-"

He felt like hitting himself.

"Chakra." He decided before focusing his senses and honing in on Sasuke's chakra. It glowed behind him, seemingly in the middle of the bridge and slowly making its way further still to the other side. With a sigh of relief, he walked forward and under the bridge to make his way to his student.

"Ne, you shouldn't be doing this alone." Kakashi said, nabbing Sasuke by his shirt before the startled boy fell into the water.

"You said practice..." Sasuke glowered. He had almost been at the end!

"I had said that you are not leaving my sight!" Kakashi tried very hard not to shake his student, but it was very difficult. It only helped Sasuke that he looked like a wet kitten, the mist from below and his sweat making droplets of moisture run from his hair and limbs. Kakashi may not like kids easily, but he did like animals.

He was thinking of putting collars with bells on his kids so that he wouldn't lose them again. If he found them.

"Sorry..." Sasuke wasn't going to say anything else, so Kakashi sighed and swung the boy up. With a gasp, Sasuke instinctively reached with his hands and feet and clung onto the bridge with his chakra. Kakashi waited a beat before letting go.

"Well? Stand up." Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him before focusing on the ceiling he was clinging to. Slowly, his upside down kneeling shifted to a crouch, and then he was standing. "Good, now let's go." Kakashi walked forward the rest of the ten feet to the end of the bridge, and Sasuke followed, wanting to stay close enough to be caught in case a freak accident happened.

At least it was easier than he though to walk upside down. There wasn't any vertigo or head rush at all. It was just like walking upright, only it felt like the gravity on your feet was a little heavier.

X

Naruto led the way to where they started _Battlefield_. He and Sakura needed their things.

"Oh, I see! So it's more of balance than anything else?" Sakura confirmed. Naruto assumed that Zabuza nodded in the pause. "But what if you're really tired or an enemy was muddling your senses?"

"Trying to find a weakness?" Haku asked, his tone light but still warning.

Haku didn't like Sakura, especially since Zabuza was slowly relaxing around the girl as she rambled on.

"Not at all." Sakura's tone was bewildered. "I was just trying to figure out what I can do if I ever wanted to use a weapon twice my height and three times my weight. Oh! Would chakra be able to help?"

"How much do you have?" Zabuza asked, his voice rough, but not mean.

"Not a lot."

"What about your control?"

"What?"

"Your chakra control. How good is it?"

"Um, I don't really know." Naruto turned around just in time for Haku to give a blank look even with slightly narrow eyes. It was as close to a sneer as the boy would ever make.

"Oh, how long have you been a ninja for?" The boy asked. Naruto had the feeling Haku was jealous, and that his normal nature was calm and kind. It seemed Haku was trying to stay nice and polite and yet was hating for the first time. He must really like Zabuza, or something.

"We graduated a month ago." Naruto answered. Sakura didn't seem to notice the condescending look Haku was giving them.

"So, what do you know?" Sakura looked really embarrassed and bowed her head. Naruto gave a small grin.

"Depends. What do you _want_ to know?" Sakura quickly slapped the back of his head. "Ow! Sakura-chan!"

"You know what he means!" Naruto fixed his hat and glasses before returning to the conversation.

"Our sensei has been conditioning us to prepare us for the skills he's been planning to teach us. After we return to the village, if we meet his expectations in teamwork and mental and physical strength, he was planning to start us on chakra conditioning."

"When did he say that?" Sakura asked.

"He didn't." Sakura blinked at him.

"Oh. Right." She said. She was never questioning him again.

"You're pretty creepy, kid. What else do you know?" Naruto grinned before Sakura smacked him again.

"What!? He _asked_!"

"I just felt like I was going to hate what you said." Naruto didn't drop his grin, even as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Okay, in terms of what I know. For chakra control, Sakura has the potential to have 200 percent of control, though right now she's about 89 percent. This is without having any control exercises."

"200 percent control? How does that happen?" Haku asked.

"Well, the way I see it, chakra control can be completed twice. Once for use inside the body, and again for outside. Control of another person's chakra will also be counted as control inside the body for the sake of simplicity. Just like control of another person's body movements will count as control outside the body. Like how Suna uses their puppeteer tricks." Naruto said as he opened the door in front of them and stepped through. Sakura recognized it as the room they started _Battlefield_ in.

"You said control another person's chakra. I've never heard of that."

"Oh it's possible." Naruto told Haku as he leaped over the counter Sakura hadn't been able to see when the room was dark. With the lights on, the room looked like a dance bar. Naruto clipped something to his waist and slipped his wristbands on. "It's one of the easiest ways to induce chakra poisoning, and the main reason why the tailed beast chakras are dangerous to humans. Foreign chakra in a body is like an instant infection, but the chakra has to move a certain way through the body and coax the other chakra to give a certain reaction if you want to use it to heal instead. Demon chakra doesn't care. It just enters the body that certain way chakra has to enter a body and starts attacking, thus chakra poison. Most living things have the ability to naturally fight off intruding chakra, so the ability to manipulate it perfectly to make it enter another is rather difficult."

"And you're saying Pinky has the potential to control her chakra the way a tailed beast does?" Zabuza asked, wondering to himself if the kid in front of him was lying. He hadn't so far, as far as he could tell, but it was always a possibility with other shinobi, no matter how young.

"Or a medical nin." Naruto nodded. "Or even a puppeteer. Hell, Sakura-chan can probably pick locks with her chakra if she wanted to. She's lucky."

"And you?" Haku asked. He watched Sakura as the girl thought hard about what her teammate had revealed.

"Well, I have a lot more chakra at my disposal than can be counted as normal. My family is known for it. So, my control is probably only ever going to be 73 percent for outside potential and 98 for inside. And that's at most. Right now I've probably got just 62 percent outside control and 75 percent inside control. But, I already know all my chakra control exercises like tree climbing, leaf dancing and water walking."

"You said your sensei hasn't taught you any control exercises."

"I make it a habit to know things." Naruto grinned. Haku rolled his eyes.

"You doubt him, but it's annoyingly true." Sakura warned with an exasperated tone in her voice.

"But _you_ don't know anything, right?" Haku asked her. With a blush and frown, Sakura nodded.

"Right." She admit, trying for unaffected and bland, but still sounding offended. Zabuza huffed a breath of a chuckle.

"Good. I'll teach you how to run on water. What do you want, brat?" Naruto turned to look at the tall nukenin.

"What do I want?" He repeated.

"Obviously me teaching you something would be pointless since you'd probably already know it, or find a way to know it if I'm judging your information skills right. So, what do you want if not information?" Naruto blinked.

"Why would you feel like you owe me?" He was starting to feel like he was stepping into dangerous territory again. Just when he was sure Zabuza wasn't going to kill him and Sakura too.

"You prevented our previous employer from betraying and killing us, you're giving us access to said employers bank account, and you're willing to put in a good work to your Hokage about us. Us teaching you and your friend a technique is nowhere near equal payback." Naruto scratched his cheek in thought as he looked around him for inspiration. They just left the building for _Battlefield_'s starting place, and were on their way to the closest entrance to Gatou's base. It would be a ten minute walk through the trees.

"Contrary to popular belief, there are some missing nin with morals and a sense of honor." Haku added.

"Well, would you be willing to help Wave rebuild?" Naruto asked. "Gatou killed quite a few of the villagers and destroyed the economy here. Can you spare some of his money and give it back to the small country?"

"Sure." What?

"Really?" Sakura asked, excited.

"Why not? I'm sure the greedy bastard has a lot of money. Sparing a percentage to the country of Wave shouldn't be a problem." The group turned down a slope, and there was a tall building in the distance.

"Do you have an idea of how much money Gatou has?" Haku asked Naruto. Naruto hummed a bit, tapping his glasses and trying to find the answer through them. He whistled.

"That's a lot of zeroes." He muttered.

X

Tsunami washed the dishes in silence. Inari sat quietly at the table working on his school work and she knew her father was hard at work trying to get the bridge built.

Inari worked in silence, and even his mind stayed mum. He didn't need to really think about his work, he knew everything. He also knew that he didn't know anything about ninjas. When the blond boy had suddenly blew up and ran away, he saw a new side of ninjas he didn't think existed.

Before he thought all ninjas were quiet or even unable to speak, and that all they knew was how to be sneaky. If you saw a ninja, you were safe because they couldn't do anything without the cover of darkness or a disguise.

The silver haired ninja spoke quietly, but his entire posture made you pay attention to his words and memorize them. He didn't say a word when his mom had been yelling at him, and he didn't flinch when she even pushed him away so she could go upstairs. It wasn't that he ignored her or didn't acknowledge her; Inari could see that he was taking into heart every single word she said.

He didn't know ninjas felt guilt, but that one did.

The pink haired ninja had also been very quiet at first, but as the other boys started to raise their voices, she became visibly worried. She had looking at the adults around them and Inari suddenly realized she wasn't strong and invincible like he thought. She was still a kid. She was older than he was, but she was still a kid. She was still _learning_ to be a ninja, and thus wasn't one yet.

He didn't know how ninjas trained, but he never realized just how hard they had to in order to get to the level he thought they were all at.

And the black haired boy was loud and very angry. He had been quiet for the beginning of the groups visit, but he was obviously upset about something. For every praise or thanks his mom gave the blond, the black haired boy became angrier.

Inari hadn't realized that ninjas could be jealous of their teammates. He thought they were all emotionless. At the very least, even he knew that Konoha was known for their teamwork.

And then there was the blond ninja who dyed his hair red. Naruto confused him even more. When he came into the house with his grandpa, Inari had thought he was a villager from Konoha that followed the group for some strange reason. He smiled and joked and acted so relaxed Inari wondered who he was and was jealous. Wave hadn't been so carefree in a long time. Naruto had brought with him _food_, had given them _money_, had helped his mom cook even when she said _he didn't have to_, and he _knew_ things.

Naruto didn't look or act like a ninja, but Inari thought Naruto was the more real one. Disregarding the running away thing he did during lunch earlier. Naruto didn't come in the house with anything but his clothes, a hat and a weird pair of red sunglasses. He didn't even have any scrolls on him. Yet he had worn a different change of clothes in the past five days they've been here, had so much food that he was just giving it away, and had given his grandpa a few construction tools that would help build the bridge faster.

And he was nice. No matter how many times Inari had told the group they were just going to die, Naruto denied his words, but he never got angry or patronizing. Just yesterday after the blond came back from training with his team, after Inari told him to go away, Naruto had told him a story of a country under oppression and near self-destruction. The country was saved, its nation flourished. Naruto had asked him if he wanted Wave to ever be like that. Inari had told him to stop pretending.

"_And what about Kaiza?" Naruto had asked. Inari glared at him, the strong want to hit him bubbling up suddenly._

"_Shut up!"_

"_He told you something, before he died. Do you even remember what it was?" Inari had frozen at the calm look Naruto was giving them in the hallway above the stairs. He pushed his red sunglasses off his nose to the top of his forehead. _

"_Stop talking about him. He'd dead. He died because he tried to be a hero, and he was an idiot for fighting against something stronger than him!"_

"_He was a fisherman, and he saved you with his bare hands when you were smaller. He made his living with his two arms and the net and fishing rod you have above your bed. He did the best he could to protect you and your mom when your country started falling. He was a man of self reliance, and as long as he had breath in his body, he never gave up." Naruto voice of awe suddenly hardened into a low disbelieving and disappointed tone. "You dare smear his memory by calling him a fool and not even trying to live the life he died trying to give you?" Inari could feel tears of hidden shame falling down his cheeks and Naruto only gave him a small frown._

"_You don't know what it's like! Gatou controls everything, and everyone who's tried to fight has died!" Naruto had sighed, and walked into Inari's room without his permission. Inari didn't say anything though, because he was looking at the fishing pole hanging there. There was a few more seconds of silence before Naruto looked at him again._

"_I've lived a hard life. It may not seem like it, but I have. I don't have a family, and growing up everyone hated me. Most everyone still does. There were nights where I was starving because shop owners wouldn't sell me food. For almost a year when I was four or so, I had lived on the streets because the orphanage said they didn't have enough room for me. I didn't even have a good basic education because no one would acknowledge me or my questions. It still feels like me against the world sometimes." Naruto had admit quietly._

"_I..." Inari wasn't sure if Naruto was lying to him. Naruto smiled and laughed, and he was so nice. He couldn't have grown up like that. But the blond's face was hurt. Inari knew you couldn't fake that kind of hurt._

"_There was one lady who found me. She was kind of lost at the time, but she was nice so I helped as much as I could. Now she's kind of like a big sister, and she teaches me a lot of things. You want to know what I was told when I was feeling really down?" He asked. Inari didn't say anything, but Naruto continued anyway. "She told me that if both of your options don't work out, make a third that does. If fighting and giving up doesn't make things better, do something else to go around the problem to a solution."_

Inari looked at his mom as she hummed over the dishes. He hadn't realized that he had finished his work.

"Mom, I'm going to go to the town."

"Be careful, sweetie. I love you." His mom said as she smiled softly at him. Inari could see how tired his mom was, so he smiled back as he stood up.

"I love you too."

"_You're named after the god of agriculture, industry, and success. If anyone can help this country get back on its feet, I think it'd be you."_

Inari headed towards town.

X

Bridges were never a symbol of relief for Sakura. In fact, they were only a factual means of getting across dangerous terrains safely. Now, her feet wavering and dipping into the choppy waves and her chakra near exhausted, she could say without a doubt that she couldn't wait to get on that damn bridge. Naruto, to her expectations, was also seeming to struggle with the uneven water, but wasn't even breaking a sweat.

He was just swearing every time those waves slapped him in the face.

"Dammit! I hate water!" It was a guilty pleasure Sakura hoped to remember for a long time.

'This is all your fault, Naruto!' She snarled in her mind as a particular wave from Naruto moved the waves around her and caused her to sink waist deep into the ice cold, freezing, sea. She gave a shrill half scream half roar. She hadn't gotten that wet since first setting step atop the water.

"Hey, shut up kids." Zabuza drawled out from ahead of them.

Sakura had been ready to admit to herself that she was about to start admiring him. He would have made a great role model. And then he offered to train them, and she was ready to admit she would be willing to hug him if he was a little more approachable. Kakashi-sensei hadn't taught them anything yet, after all.

And then he had them walk on water.

'I hate you so much.' She glared at the tall man's back.

"We don't want to start trouble before we make it to the bridge. Please do not yell, Naruto-san. I thought you knew this exercise." Haku had put on his mask, so it was a little harder to tell he was a boy, but his voice was still clear enough to hear. His calm attitude really ticked Sakura off.

'You can just drown too!' Her fingers twitched as she tried to balance.

"Sure, I know it and can use it. That doesn't mean I perfected it." He grumbled as the water under his feet splashed up at his head again. He growled at himself before Sakura actually hissed at him. "... Did you just-?" She pointed at Haku's other side viciously, her precarious balance doing nothing to help her rage.

"Move. Now." She said quietly as she slowly sunk lower into the choppy water that was coming from her blond teammate. He said nothing, but he did obey. She walked on the water with hard steps that splashed the water. But at least she wasn't fighting the waves that Naruto was generating.

"Hey, walk quieter brat." Sakura resisted the urge to growl at Zabuza only because she believed he would still kill her if he wanted to.

Her steps became mute.

Zabuza didn't say anything, but he was impressed.

X

Sasuke stood near the old man, bored. Kakashi was on the other side of the bridge. Well, the original was. He had about five other clones meandering around the area. He said he wasn't going to take any more chances of Sasuke training inappropriately.

After figuring out how to walk upside down, and discovering that dangling upside down above crashing waves was a bit more discerning than he thought, Sasuke didn't care.

"One! Two! Three! Heave!" The group of men pulled and pushed and the machines and contraptions that were used spun and soled. With a loud boom, the final section of the bridge connected to the shore where the framework of the first steps and the railings were waiting to be completed. A cheer rang through the crowd as the section settled into place.

"We're almost done! Soon, we can be officially open to the rest of the mainland!" Tazuna cheered loudly. The working men all murmured happily and there was a moment of glory that everyone basked in.

Until someone yelled in fear.

"T-Tazuna!" The man was pointing to the shore where there was a large crowd of familiar mercenaries coming from the forest. A Kakashi clone quickly stood between them and Tazuna, and by proxy the rest of the workers who were slowly backing away. Sasuke took out a kunai as the men slowly started to move to the safety of their village.

"Sasuke, get ready." The real Kakashi warned as he came up from behind him and headed toward the advancing group of thirty or more men.

"A-Aah!" Turning around, Sasuke soon spotted a figure walking up the bridge as the aforementioned retreating civilians turned tail and fled as fast as they could to the relative safety of the village. He felt his blood freeze at the familiar sight of Zabuza, and the two figures of his missing teammates.

They'd been taken hostage.

"Hey! What gives!?" Naruto demanded as he dangled from the back of his shirt where Zabuza was suspending him.

"Shut, UP Naruto!" Sakura squeaked as Zabuza bumped her higher on his shoulder from where she was hanging by her wrists in his other hand. 'Like a sack of potatoes' never before sounded so apt.

"We're here for the bridge builder Tazuna!" One of the thugs from the forest started. "Hand him over, and no one else will be hurt."

"You're outnumbered, shinobi or no." Another chuckled.

"And we've got Zabuza on our side!" Sasuke heard Naruto snort before a light thud made him look back at his teammate where he saw another person – the fake hunter nin! – had just smacked him.

"That wasn't me!" Naruto complained as Zabuza started walking closer. Kakashi stood between him and Tazuna right next to Sasuke, and that made Sasuke feel a little better if his sensei thought he was good enough to fight alongside of him, and the rest of the clones stood guard of the thugs advancing from the forest.

"Any way I can get my cute little students back alive?" Kakashi asked. Standing next to the man, Sasuke suddenly realized he could feel him gathering his chakra into his arms.

He suddenly thought of his mother's chakra, and how she used chakra on her eyes. If he had any ability of hers left, he would find out. He gathered his chakra in his eyes, slowly. The warning of trying self manipulation with chakra without training rang in his mind, but he was determined to get _something_ out of this.

"Any way I can do so without you attacking me?"

"Well," Kakashi started as his clones started rushing towards the clustered group from the woods. "That depends entirely with what your planning afterwards." He stepped closer, lightly. "Sasuke, circle to the fake hunter and keep him busy." The man murmured. Sasuke briefly thought about the man right behind him, Tazuna, who would be left defenseless, but the man spoke up before he could answer.

"I'll stay out of your way. I'll try to get to the village." He said softly. Sasuke nodded, feeling better about the situation even though he could feel his pulse rising from the sounds of fighting behind him and his teammates were still in Zabuza's hands. He took a step away in the opposite side of Tazuna. The old drunkard hesitantly stepped away a couple steps before breaking into a dash toward safety.

The hunter nin didn't even bother looking at him.

'Come on! Get away from them!' Sasuke circled closer, glancing between his teammates and the fake hunter. The hunter nin chuckled lightly.

"You sure I can't play with that one? He looks eager." The other teen, barely older than Sasuke was, was mocking him. And it frustrated him to know he could still lose to the guy. Girl. Whatever it was. It was an annoying person who had his teammates hostage.

"No, Haku. That'll defeat the purpose of us being here. Hey, Hatake, you want your brats? Let me give you one if you promise to listen to me before I give you the other one."

"Why don't you let them both go and maybe I'll consider something afterwards."

"Whatever." Zabuza muttered before hoisting Naruto up as if to toss him. The blond, who was hanging like a puppy in trouble, started squirming.

"Oi! Oi! Stop! Don't be using Sakura-chan as a human shield! Just let us walk, okay!?" Zabuza paused and seemed to consider Naruto's words, a sight that made Kakashi stop advancing as well. Sasuke stopped walking only because he saw his sensei stop.

"Na-ru-to..." Sakura looked to be soaked and a little more ruffled from where she was hanging, and Sasuke worried for the subdued tone the normally, err, spastic, girl now had. He suddenly remembered she was a girl, and kidnapped girl had something more to worry about than kidnapped boys. Naruto was obviously fine, and despite Sakura being annoying, Sasuke worried for what could have happened to her.

"You're right, kid. You're a much better meat shield." With that, Sakura suddenly shrilled with an extra screech as she was flipped head over heel from Zabuza's shoulders and towards Sasuke.

He didn't have enough time to brace himself.

The two tumbled a couple of times before Sasuke found himself in the most embarrassing position he ever thought he'd be, tangled up with Sakura and her clothes, and his clothes, as they were.

And Naruto had the guts to guffaw.

Chakra in his eyes and face flushed from embarrassment, Sasuke suddenly wanted nothing more than to hurt the blond idiot. He carefully separated from Sakura and checked her over briefly. Nothing seemed wrong. She just looked tired.

Her body flashed briefly as her chakra suddenly became visible to him. It seemed low. He helped her up.

"There, one unharmed student. May I have a few words now?" Zabuza asked, tone obviously condescending. His image probably would have been better if Naruto wasn't squirming in mirth as he dangled from his place in the air.

"Depends. Sakura, how are you?" Kakashi asked.

"We're both fine. I'm just tired. And hungry. And I'm getting a headache. And I think I hate you Zabuza! Now I'm dizzy!" Her piece said, she started walking to the hunter nin. Sasuke snagged her sleeve.

"Hey, don't be heading back to them, stupid." He said just as Kakashi rose his own voice.

"What did you do to her!?"

"Nothing!" Zabuza answered exasperatedly. Naruto wasn't laughing anymore.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, is your chakra too low?"

"Yes, you jerk! If you hadn't been making waves here, I wouldn't be feeling like this!" The hunter nin sighed and started walking closer to the pink-haired genin.

"Come here, Haruno-san. I'll give you a boost in your chakra." Sakura sniffed and trudged to the other boy again. Sasuke snagged her hand but she just pulled him with her. If he couldn't keep her away, he'll be damned if he lets her walk to danger alone!

"Look, Hatake, I'm not your enemy anymore. Your brat here," Sasuke saw him shake Naruto lightly as the idiot waved almost cheerfully. "Made sure of it. You said he was a genius. I think I'd agree, considering he made me not only kill my former employer but agree to give money to this tiny place."

As Zabuza ranted and Kakashi cautiously moved closer to the man with his weirdest student, Sakura made it to the hunter nin.

"Hands out. I'm betting you've never shared chakra?"

"Not that I can remember. Sorry Haku." The girl seemed to slur a little, and the other's mask was taken off to reveal a boy. A very pretty boy, but a boy. Sasuke held onto Sakura's hand a little tighter as she wobbled slightly.

"Uchiha, you need to let her give me that hand too." Reluctantly, and more than a little curious to see a chakra sharing, which was different from a chakra transfer, Sasuke instead placed a hand on the pinkette's shoulder. The girl held out her hands, and as the boy, Haku?, hovered his above them, Sasuke could suddenly see chakra again.

He could see the concentration in their palms. He could see the flow of them gradually becoming clearer the farther they were from the other two cores, and he could distinctly tell them apart. Sakura's chakra was a light green and it felt blank. No, not blank, flexible. As if it had no distinction so it can become anything. The other boy's chakra, on the other hand, was a white that felt like warm ice. Or, something like a warm breeze with a cool after feel.

He stared as the two chakra met in the space between their hands, and they both mixed to a slight pink as Sakura's chakra pulled from Haku's. He could imagine he knew exactly what was happening. There was a conversion going on, where both chakra met, and their attributes simply disappeared as the energy needed to convert from one to the other. He imagined he'd seen something like this before, with different names, with different people, subjects, in a place with white walls and metal machines that monitored and controle-

After a short moment, Sakura pulled away. She rubbed her hands and smiled with a little more life in her expression.

"Thank you Haku-san."

"It's no problem. I wish you'd mentioned your low reserves sooner. Zabuza-san would have been in a better position to negotiate for a truce if you had."

"Sorry. I didn't want to bother anyone, and I'd only read about chakra sharing so I hadn't really known what to do." Sakura blushed a little.

Sasuke stared with confusion at the conversation happening in front of him. For a moment, he had _seen_...

'Potential to _see_. To see, and _know_?' He wondered as the three started wandering back to where the Jounin were. A quick glance and Sasuke could see that most of the hired hands of Gatou were incapacitated. It didn't seem as if Kakashi was killing any of them. Perhaps he was saving them for the village to determine their fates. It would only be fair.

"Really, sensei! I swear it's all true! Look, see!? Sakura-chan is fine!" Naruto yelled from his spot between the two glaring Jounin.

"Look, I'm starting to not care where the fucking money goes. Just point me to any random fucking villager and I'll be gone! It doesn't have to be the damned bridge builder! It makes more sense to give it to him because he's the de facto leader of this place."

"I think it's safe to put me down now." Naruto mumbled in the silence. After a beat, Zabuza let go. Sasuke was sure his sensei was just as surprised as he was. "_I'll_ take you to the old man's place. It's this way." Naruto led the way to the edge of the bridge before stopping short.

What looked like the entirety of the Wave country was rallied up with various tools and weapons, and Inari was at the very front. The little squirt was aiming a crossbow at Zabuza.

"Hey, Inari!" Naruto greeted as if his cheerful voice was completely in place of the warning atmosphere. Sasuke resisted the urge to smack his forehead. Barely.

"Naruto-nii, why is _he_ with you?"

"I converted him to the good guys! Zabuza here promised to share Gatou's money since he killed Gatou and doesn't need all of it!" There was a silence as the town processed the loud and cheery proclamation before Zabuza snagged him into the air again and held him out to Kakashi.

"Just take him. He's creepy as fuck the way he times everything." Naruto pouted when Kakashi hesitated to do as told.

X

Tsunami hummed softly as she snapped the sheets over the clotheslines for them to dry. The weather was warm this time around, and she loves the smell of the earthy sea that clung to the clothes when she hung them out this time of year. It may be humid, but it wasn't so bad around the area of her home. Just as she bent down to pick up the empty laundry basket, a large hand covered her mough as a burly arm snagged her by her stomach.

"Alright, lady, just do as we say, and you won't be getting this shoved through you, understand." Tsunami felt her blood freeze when she saw the sword gilt her reflection back at her from in front of her face. She saw a shadow move behind her, and another, as a second man came into her peripheral.

"She's a pretty thing, ain't she? I'm sure Gatou would reward us for bringer her to him instead of killing her like the rest of the bridge builder's family in this place." Tsunami felt tears in her eyes as she struggled. These men were strong, and she never was.

'Please, Kami, help.' She prayed as she futilely tugged at the hands over her mouth. She couldn't breathe, her tears wouldn't let her see, and she couldn't walk let alone run away. The man holding her was already heading towards the tree line of her garden and she could see the other man heading to her house. She only hoped Inari would stay in the town square longer. She didn't want her little boy to have seen both his step father as well as her be taken away from him.

"Mommy!" She glimpsed her little boy right before seeing the second man dart towards him from the kitchen. Closing her eyes, Tsunami wept. "Let go of her!" She heard her baby yelp and the other man laugh darkly.

"Say goodbye to your mom, brat! She's never going to see you again!"

"No! Mommy!"

"Hold on a bit." A fourth person demanded. Tsunami looked for them quickly, hoping Kami had at least sent a person to help her and her baby. She didn't recogni-

"Zabuza." The man holding her acknowledged. She screamed in her throat as she struggled in frustration and terror. Her baby was still struggling and it sounded like he was choking, and damn everything if she didn't at least try to save him! If Kami won't help her, she'll help herself! "Hold still, wench!"

"Give her here." Zabuza demanded. She was shoved, and before she could get her feet to start towards her little Inari, the tall dangerous ninja snagged her by her hand and had her hugged to him. She was trapped rather effectively in his arms, and her vision was soon covered by his large hand.

" Inari!" She tried to squirm, to try to escape – her baby wasn't even making a sound dammit! – but she was stuck. "Inari! Please! Please, take my home! Take my money! Take my life! Please, just let my baby go!"

"Hush now." Zabuza rumbled. She could feel his voice vibrate through her own chest, and it frightened her.

"Inari! Inari, mommy loves you!" She wept.

She heard a slice of air, the thud of flesh being hit, and the disgusting splash of a fountain of blood. She would have collapsed limp from the empty feeling of shock if she wasn't being held.

"Tsunami-san?" Sakura-chan's voice asked. She was confused, and shivered when the burning hand uncovered her wet eyes. Sakura-chan was standing in front of her, Kakashi-san concentrating on a jutsu behind her. Inari was standing next to her father, who was holding his eyes shut. The bright boy, Naruto-kun, was looking at her in worry, and the dark boy, Sasuke-san, was watching his sensei.

The other two thugs were nowhere to be seen.

Her baby was okay.

Zabuza loosened his arms and she shivered again from the sudden cold against her. But her baby was okay, and so was her father, and she wasn't going to acknowledge that there was a murderer behind her because she needed to hug her baby.

She darted towards the group her father hired and collapsed to her knees.

"My baby." She whispered as she hugged Inari.

"I'm okay, mommy." He said looking around scared and confused, but thankfully he was mostly confused. She looked up at the tall ninja Zabuza, and forced herself to stand tall as she walked back to him. There were too many things she's wanted to say to him because of his employment under Gatou, and she'll be damned if she ignored her chance to do anything.

SLAP!

"Get away from me." She whispered. She wanted to scream at him loud enough for the heavens to hear her, but her rage was too much for volume. "Unless you have a way to possibly _begin_ to make up for the fear and pain you've caused my household, which I doubt, get away from me and mine!" She hissed out. He slowly straightened from her blow, and then she shivered under his glare, and forced herself to stay still as he reached for his sword.

He placed its edge behind her, aimed at her neck.

"I'll ignore your attack on me. I can't blame you for that. And I do have a way to start making it up to you, in case you're wondering. But let me warn you, bitch," He continued with a growl. She couldn't help but glare back. She wanted to slap him again. "If you dare try to hit me again, this sword is going through you."

"Zabuza, you pervert! Inari's right here!"

Tsunami loved Naruto-kun. She was startled to see the red creeping up from Zabuza's face wrappings, but she was grateful the little ball of sunshine was back.

X

Naruto was waving his arms like a maniac, but Kakashi didn't mind. His cute little minions were all together again, and after the extra week of details Tazuna had to enforce the bridge with (He suspected Inari suggested most of them, just to waste time) the bridge had been dubbed finished and the team had agreed that their mission was done.

Technically, it had been complete the moment Tazuna had made it home. But, with the appearance of Zabuza, he supposed the A-rank had room to include a clause of waiting for the bridge to be completed. Even if Zabuza decided to stay the extra week as well, and had apparently turned over a new leaf. And had apparently decided to help him train his little genin. And had apparently decided to take to watching Tsunami...

Well, the mission was over. Kakashi was glad. This country was crazy.

"Hey, Naruto." Sasuke started. Naruto looked over to him in confusion, his dyed hair starting to show gold near his scalp. When Sasuke didn't say anything right away, his littlest genin walked closer. Sasuke had stopped just before they stepped off the bridge. "I just wanted to say, sorry. For, you know, yelling. I guess I was, a bit jealous. Or something." Sasuke couldn't keep eye contact.

Kakashi paused to watch the exchange. He vaguely remembered threatening to lock all the kids in a room for them to get over whatever was bothering them all, but when they all seemed to be normal and happy(ish, because of the tort- training), he hadn't thought it necessary.

Looks like Sasuke was growing up.

"Aw, it's okay. I guess I kinda overreacted too." Naruto forgave easily.

"Well, just so you know, I'm not sorry about this." Before Naruto could react, or anyone else for that matter, Sasuke did a rather flawless mule kick to Naruto's chest.

The blond yelped as he flew over the edge of the bridge.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she ran to look over the edge of the shiny orange railing. He could hear Inari and Tsunami also crying out in surprise for the brat. Sasuke smirked and just continued his way off the bridge. Kakashi blinked twice in bemusement before following.

"Sasuke, you know I have to ask why you just sent your teammate into the ocean off the bridge." He warned lightly as he heard Sakura calling out to the blonde-redhead, apparently in conversation.

"It's payback."

Somehow, Kakashi could understand.

X

They had been running for a few hours, barely another five minutes to the gate when Naruto suddenly froze. He had changed his dyed hair back to its normal golden blonde before leaving camp that morning. He'd even placed his grey headband over his hair and tied his hitaiate loosely around his neck as it had been when they met. His shirt was the shinobi green and his pants their tan khaki color.

'This is officially the coolest thing I've read since discovering how poisonous toads were!' Naruto thought to himself as a grin slowly crept over his lips.

"Naruto, what is it?" Kakashi asked. Sakura and Sasuke both took out kunai as they looked around the area. Naruto looked at the man in front of him.

"The bridge... they..."

"The bridge?" Sakura asked.

"What happened to the bridge since we left yesterday?" Sasuke asked. Naruto tried to form the words, but he gasped at the same time. It took a few times to regulate his breathing to actually speak. Well, yell.

"They-! They named the bridge after me! FUCK YEAH!" Naruto cheered. "They fucking named the bridge after me! Oh my god, I've gotta tell Tari-chan! Come on! We gotta get home! I gotta bridge named after me!" With that said, Naruto ran faster than the earlier pace towards home.

"Naruto wait!" Sakura yelled out.

"Hey, dobe!"

Kakashi sighed. He was wondering when Naruto would start talking again, as he'd been giving the group the silent treatment since he pulled himself out of the ocean. Now he was just wondering how Naruto figured Tazuna's bridge was named after him. It didn't really make sense.

Well, he knew the boy had a weird ability to figure things out he really shouldn't know. Did that mean he could do so anytime anywhere? He hadn't even been using chakra!

He wondered if that woman would be easy to find. He had quite a few questions for her.

xXx TBC… xXx

HK: First off, I'm so sorry! I had this thing halfway done, ended up deleting it because it sucked, then realized that my take-two chapters all seemed disconnected and tried to make them make sense. Then I got the inspiration of a TsunamixZabuza fic and desperately tried to fight off the urge to start something new. Again. I think it worked... But if anyone wants to try their hand at one, I'd certainly appreciate it! There are only two, and I'd like Haku to be present and happy too.

And, now that my checkpoints are all hit, I realized I had a small Naruto and Kakashi moment I wasn't able to squeeze in. It was supposed to take place immediately after Zabuza returned Sakura and Naruto. Then Sakura demanded attention for her amazing efforts to be a better konoichi and I decided to place it after Zabuza returned with the group to Tazuna's house. Then Tsunami wanted her own limelight, and she became a damsel in distress who was ungrateful at her prince in shining armor.

Then Sasuke needed to get to that self promise of throwing Naruto off the bridge. (Who else remembered that!? ^.^)

So, this is just a floating omake anyone can enjoy. Hopefully, it'll help make things better about my late late chapter.

Have a Happy Halloween!

-Homeless OMAKE!-

Kakashi froze when his littlest Genin slowly moved towards him and placed his face in his stomach. His arms went around him and Kakashi slowly realized he was being hugged.

It'd been a while since anyone wanted to hug him for comfort, as Naruto was obviously doing.

"You know, Kakashi-sensei, when we were first assigned as a team, I was pretty upset that you were my sensei. I knew you to be chronically late, perverted and had heard a lot of rumors that you were mentally insane. I hadn't looked forward to being your student at all since I thought it was only a matter of time before you cracked. Now, I'm glad you're my sensei." Naruto admit as he hugged the man. "As unstable as you are, at least you seem to have it together more than other Jounin I know of. These past few hours of my life have never experienced such mood swings of murderous intent and leniency for being useful or interesting."

"Er, okay then." Kakashi awkwardly pat the redhead's back.

Was that a compliment, or an insult?

He glanced out the window at Zabuza, who was snarling at Sasuke as Sakura yelled at them. Then Tsunami yelled out her own piece from the kitchen, and Zabuza was suddenly cowed as the kids looked surprised and wary.

Kakashi kept patting Naruto's back awkwardly. He'd flinched when Tsunami had slammed the door downstairs. Why was his littlest genin so weird? Wasn't that his job?

-Kyaa!-

Posted: 16Oct12


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